The six applicants - Anil Kumble, Praveen Amre, Ravi Shastri, Tom Moody, Stuart Law and Lalchand Rajput - have given presentations to the BCCI's Cricket advisory board, comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, on their proposed plans as the coach of the Indian national team. But there seems to be one clear front-runner in the race.
Even though he applied late, Kumble's plans and vision for India to perform well at the International front would help him get the lead for the job, according to a India Today report.
Kumble gave the longest presentation and had a different blueprint for each format. Kumble laid stress on the time when he was a player and the curse of not performing well abroad was broken.
Apart from being the chairman of ICC Cricket Committee and BCCI technical committee, Kumble has also mentored IPL teams Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Ravi Shastri, on the other hand, gave his presentation via video conference from Thailand. Coincidentally, Kumble and the panel - Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman - were all teammates during the time when the winning drought in the International forum was reversed.
Players like Virat Kohli have openly expressed their support for Kumble's decision, along with a few influential BCCI officials.