Ravi Shastri was picked as Anil Kumble's replacement as the India head coach after an announcement by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at their Mumbai headquarters on Monday.

The drama surrounding the selection of the head coach of the Indian cricket team might have finally come to an end almost two months after it began, with cricketer-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri bagging the job on Tuesday as per reports.

Shastri was among the five applicants interviewed by the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) on Monday, and he beat the likes of former India batsman Virender Sehwag and ex-Australian cricketer Tom Moody to the coveted post, as per an update from ANI on Twitter.

The CAC had deferred the announcement after the interviews on Monday, with committee member Sourav Ganguly stating that there was no hurry in the process, and that they would have a word with captain Virat Kohli on the issue. However, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) asked the BCCI to make the announcement without any further delay earlier on Tuesday.

Former India captain Shastri was also the front-runner for the India coach’s role last time around due to his successful stint as Team Director, before Anil Kumble entered the fray and was handed the high-profile position over 56 other applicants.

However, Kumble’s relationship with Kohli soured inside a year and the former finally resigned in June stating “it was apparent the partnership (with Kohli) was untenable, and I therefore believe it is best for me to move on.”

According to reports, the BCCI had received 10 applications for the post of India’s head coach — Shastri, Sehwag, Moody, Richard Pybus, Dodda Ganesh, Lalchand Rajput, Lance Klusener, Rakesh Sharma (Oman national team coach), Phil Simmons and Upendranath Brahmachari (an engineer sans any cricketing background).

However, only five of these — Sehwag, Shastri, Moody, Rajput, and Pybus — were reportedly interviewed by the CAC, comprising Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. Former West Indian coach Phil Simmons was not interviewed despite being in the list.

According to a PTI report, Klusener was kept on standby but had very little chance of getting the job to begin with.

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