Gary Kirsten Joins Race To Become Indian Women Team's Coach

India women cricket is going through a turmoil at the moment. It all began in the Caribbeans during the recently-concluded ICC World T20I.  Interim coach Ramesh Powar faced severe criticism after dropping Mithali Raj for the semifinal clash which India lost to England.

Mithali had then wrote to the BCCI, revealing that Powar had humiliated her. Powar had then hit back by saying that Mithali was tough to work with. Later, Harmanpreet Kaur had urged the BCCI officials to extend Powar’s contract. However, the BCCI decided against it and invited applications for the post.

Since then several high profile names have already applied for the post. Atul Bedade, David Johnson, Rakesh Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar, Owais Shah, Herschelle Gibbs, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Dominic Thornely, Gargi Banerjee, Vidyuth Jaisimha, Ramesh Powar, Colin Siller and Dav Whatmore are some of the candidates who are in race for the job.

And the latest to join the race is former South Africa opener and Indian men team’s coach Gary Kirsten. According to The Times of India, Kirsten has made an enquiry about the profile of the role which would be offered to the head coach of the women’s team before sending his application to BCCI.

“Yes, Gary has applied for the job,” a top BCCI source told the news outlet.

Kirsten was in charge of the Indian team from 2008 to 2011 and had enjoyed unprecedented success, guiding the team to ICC World Cup in 2011 and the pinnacle of Test rankings. He is also an accomplished player and an experienced coach. Apart from coaching India, Kirsten has also coached South Africa and different T20 leagues across the world.

The report further suggested that Gary Kirsten has now become one of leading candidates to be interviewed along with others. It also reported that IPL team Kings XI Punjab coach Mike Hesson too had inquired about the job from the BCCI officials but it is not clear whether he has applied or not.