Anil Kumble making the strongest buzz as slog overs commence

KOLKATA: Ravi Shastri, an in-your-face former India captain, effectively functioned as Team India's head coach at a critical time. Designation-wise he was the team director, from August 2014 to March 2016, a period which covered two World competitions. So, in going forward, Shastri has an excellent understanding of what needs to be done. Logically, he has an advantage over the other aspirants for the head coach's position. However, according to well-placed sources of The Telegraph in Mumbai and New Delhi, the highly-respected Anil Kumble is making the strongest buzz in the lead-up to the full-fledged head coach's appointment.

Kumble too is a former India captain. He currently chairs the influential cricket committee of the International Cricket Council. Could Kumble, then, be the one to take Team India forward? Barring the Champions Trophy in 2013, India's cupboard has largely been bare after the 2011 World Cup win. The time to be bold has come. India have been without a full-time head coach ever since the listless Duncan Fletcher's contract ended in March 2015. Belatedly, the process of identifying one began on June 1 this year. The Board of Control for Cricket in India hasn't revealed the 21 names shortlisted and forwarded to the three-member stalwarts' committee (Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman), but Shastri and Kumble obviously have to be there. Even if nobody else is. With good reasons, it is assumed that it's a straight 'fight' between Shastri and Kumble. If one goes by the buzz in the Board and outside, then the younger Kumble is right at the top. In simple terms, if one had to lay a wager, there would be more queuing up for Kumble at this point in time. Shastri has admirers, yet many strongly feel that Kumble is more suited to take the current bunch of India players to the next level. India made the semi-finals both in the World Cup and the World T20, in a space of 12 months, but there was little consistency in the latter competition. That did raise questions. To be fair to Shastri, he wasn't out on the park, 11 players were. The stalwarts' thinking is not known, so it's to be seen whether Sachin, Sourav and Laxman actually go along with buzz No.1. They have a tough call to make. On Monday evening, Sourav announced that the head coach will most probably be identified in the next 24 hours. Identified, not announced, mind you. It's expected that the likes of chief selector Sandeep Patil (an aspirant who has been a coach/cricket manager in the 1990s), Shastri and Kumble would be interviewed in the city at some point on Tuesday. Owing to the huge responsibility on their shoulders, the stalwarts aren't going to be whimsical in their approach. Besides, in convenor Sanjay Jagdale, they have a methodical person in their midst. Jagdale is a former secretary of the Board. Thus far, perhaps not wanting the media to track developments on a day-to-day basis, the stalwarts' committee has been going about its business quietly. Jagdale, though, is understood to have already had one meeting with Sourav and Laxman in person. Sachin was available via a video conference. Clearly, time is not being wasted as the Board wants the stalwarts' choice by Friday, when its working committee meets for the first time on president Anurag Thakur's home turf - Dharamsala, in Himachal Pradesh. The next head coach will start his tenure with the four-Test series in the West Indies, beginning in the latter half of July. As the next World Cup is in 2019, the head coach should ideally have a tenure of three years. Time enough to become familiar. And, of course, to deliver. -The Telegraph Calcutta