Not much is going right in Indian women cricket at the moment. And the reason for the same is the controversy surrounding the coach’s post. The post is vacant since RameshPowar’s stint came to an end after the Indian women’s team lost to England in the semifinals of the World T20.
The team management including Powar and Harmanpreet dropped senior player Mithali Raj for the knock-out game, triggering a controversy. Back in India, Mithali accused Powar and COA member Diana Edulji of trying to destroy her and being biased against her. Powar had then hit back by saying that Mithali was tough to coach.
And with matters getting out of the hand, the BCCI decided to invite fresh applications for the post and set the application deadline for December 14. Later, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana wrote to the BCCI, saying that they want Powar to continue. However, the BCCI decided against it and has now decided to select the new coach through a through process.
Ever since the BCCI advertised for the post, several high profile names have already applied for the post. Atul Bedade, David Johnson, Rakesh Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar, Owais Shah, Herschelle Gibbs, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Dominic Thornely, Gargi Banerjee, Vidyuth Jaisimha, Ramesh Powar, Colin Siller and Dav Whatmore are some of the candidates who are in race for the job.
And the latest to join the race is former South Africa opener and Indian men team’s coach Gary Kirsten. According to The Times of India, Kirsten has made an enquiry about the profile of the role which would be offered to the head coach of the women’s team before sending his application to BCCI.
“Yes, Gary has applied for the job,” a top BCCI source told the news outlet.
Kirsten enjoyed a very successful stint with Team India. He coached the team between 2008 and 2011, guiding the team to ICC World Cup in 2011 and the pinnacle of Test rankings. Apart from coaching India, Kirsten has also coached South Africa and different T20 leagues across the world.
The report further suggested that Gary Kirsten has now become one of leading candidates to be interviewed along with others. It also reported that IPL team Kings XI Punjab coach Mike Hesson too had inquired about the job from the BCCI officials but it is not clear whether he has applied or not.