Sachin Tendulkar to use video link to select new India head coach

Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar who has been entrusted with picking the next Indian head coach along with Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman will tune in from abroad by a video link to take part in the process.

Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman along with senior BCCI official Sanjay Jagdale will review the 21 shortlisted candidates and pick the new head coach. The BCCI had received 57 applicants for the vacant post and the list has been trimmed down to 21 names.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India release also added that Sachin Tendulkar, who is out of the country, "has confirmed his availability and when required through video conference facilities". The committee will have one week to zero in on a candidate. The shortlisted name will be submitted for approval by June 22. It is expected that the new coach will travel with the Indian team for their tour to the Caribbean.

"The said committee... will process and scrutinise all the applications, conduct interviews and seek presentations from candidates as the committee deems fit," BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke said in the statement.

The high profile names include Anil Kumble, Ravi Shastri, Venkatesh Prasad, Sandeep Patil among others while the likes of Stephen Fleming and Heath Streak have also expressed their interests. The applications have been scrutinized on the basis on the nine stipulations laid out by the BCCI as qualifications for the post, but the advisory committee will have the freedom to select the most suitable candidate based on the potential as well.

The head coach post has been vacant since Ravi Shastri's tenure as the team director ended with India's semi-final exit at the World Twenty20 tournament on home soil earlier this year.