Sandeep Patil applies for head coach’s post

Just a few days after the BCCI invited applications for the vacant post of India head coach through its website, chief selector Sandeep Patil has thrown his hat into the ring for the high-profile job.

“I have just applied (for the post),” Patil said on Saturday.

He did not confirm or deny whether anyone from the BCCI had asked him to do so. There was speculation that the former batsman and ex-coach of Kenya had been advised by higher-ups in the board to apply for the job. The senior selection panel has already completed most of its top-level assignments till September when his term are scheduled to come to an end.

The five-man panel, which was originally scheduled to pick only the squad for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe starting in a few days’ time, also picked the team for the July-August tour of the West Indies when they met here on May 23.

Sanjay Bangar has been named the interim coach of the new-look side to Zimbabwe, to be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

With India’s next assignment, a series of home engagements, scheduled only in late September or October, Patil has done most of his job barring picking the India A team for a tour of Australia in August.

If he gets the job of head coach before September, he will have to quit his current job in the selection panel.

The Indian team have not had a head coach since the departure of Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher in 2014.