Virat Kohli’s coach Rajkumar Sharma and former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi are the front-runners to bag the India Women’s Team head coach’s job as BCCI shortlisted six candidates after conducting the first round of interviews.
COA member Diana Edulji, BCCI cricket operations GM Saba Karim shortlisted six candidates - Atul Bedade, Sunil Joshi, Ramesh Powar, Mamatha Maben, Sanath Kumar and Rajkumar Sharma - for the new head coach of India Women's team.
Indian captain Virat Kohli’s coach Rajkumar Sharma, who was also the head coach of the India Women’s A team, is a strong contender for the position. Sharma also has NCA level coaching degree.
Apart from Sharma, former India spinners Sunil Joshi and Ramesh Powar are also in the reckoning.
Powar, who played two Tests and 31 ODIs, is already serving as the interim coach after the controversial exit of Tushar Arothe.
Joshi's experience as player and coach will also be hard to ignore. The left-arm spinner who represented India in 15 Tests and 69 ODIs, has had coaching stints with Oman and most recently Bangladesh. The veteran of 160 first-class games has also coached Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Hyderabad.
Former India all-rounder Mamatha Maben is the only female candidate amongst the shortlisted ones. Maben represented India in 4 Tests and 40 ODIs.
The BCCI had invited applications for the coach's role after Arothe's bitter exit. He and senior players of the team developed serious differences 12 months after he took the team to the World Cup final.