Six candidates, including Incumbent Ravi Shastri, were on Monday short-listed for the high-profile post of the Indian cricket group's head mentor.
The six candidates are previous New Zealand mentor Mike Hesson, ex-Australia all-rounder and Sri Lanka mentor Tom Moody, previous West Indies all-rounder and Afghanistan mentor Phil Simmons, ex-India team manager Lalchand Rajput, previous India handling mentor Robin Singh and Shastri.
The candidates will give a presentation to the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) headed by the legendary Kapil Dev, and a final decision will be arrived at by end of this week or early next week.
Other than the nation's first World Cup-wining captain Dev, the recently designated CAC includes Anshuman Gaekwad and previous women's group skipper Shantha Rangaswamy.
"These six will give a presentation for the head coach before CAC. It has been learned that these six have been short-listed for an interview with the CAC," a senior BCCI official, privy to the development, told PTI.
Prior to leaving for the voyage through West Indies, skipper Virat Kohli had said that he is agreeable to Shastri proceeding as the head mentor of the Indian group in spite of the analysis he confronted following the semi-final ouster from the World Cup.
The present support staff involving Shastri, bowling mentor Bharat Arun, batting mentor Sanjay Bangar and handling mentor R Sridhar were allowed a 45-day expansion following the World Cup, covering the progressing West Indies visit from August 3 to September 3.
While the names of Hesson and Moody have been doing the rounds for some time, Simmons, who has had effective spells with Ireland and Afghanistan cricket groups, is likewise in the quarrel now.
Simmons additionally served West Indies for a short time, helping them to triumph in the 2016 World T20 competition in India before taking over as head mentor of the Afghanistan national group in 2017.
Among the Indians, Robin filled in as the handling mentor of the Indian group when it won the debut World T20 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy in 2007.
Rajput, who was the head mentor of the group when it won the World T20, additionally had spells with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.
Hesson recently went separate ways with IPL establishment Kings XI Punjab.
Hesson coached the Black Caps for six years, highlighted by their memorable run to the 2015 Cricket World Cup final in Melbourne, a semifinal finish at the 2016 World Twenty20 in India and a home Test series win over England in April 2018 which lifted them to third on the world rankings.
India may have failed to win the T20 World Cup in 2016 and the ODI World Cup in 2015 and 2019, but the Shastri-Kohli duo helped the country climb to the top of the Test rankings with a historic series triumph in Australia.
Shastri was the team director till June 2016 until India lost in the World T20 semi-finals before being reappointed as head coach in 2017 after Anil Kumble's departure.
