NEW DELHI: Former South Africa player

, who had successfully coached the Indian men's team which won the 2011 World Cup, has thrown his hat in the ring. Sources told ToI on Friday that Kirsten has applied for the women’s team coach job. It is understood that Kirsten 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 said.

Kirsten, who made a huge impact with MS Dhoni's men in the 2011 World Cup win, has now become one of leading candidates to be interviewed along with others like Atul Bedade, David Johnson, Rakesh Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar, Owais Shah,

, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Dominic Thornely, Gargi Banerjee, Vidyuth Jaisimha,

, Colin Siller and Dav Whatmore.

It is learnt 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. With big names in the fray to take over as the women's coach, it will be interesting to see what kind of criteria will be set by the three-member panel to pick the next coach.

Sources also said that the salary of the women's team coach would be considerably higher than what was paid before.