Former Team India coach Gary Kirsten, who had become the most high profile candidate to apply for the Indian women’s coach job last week, has been deemed ‘ineligible’ to appear for the interview which are supposed to take place on December 20 in Mumbai.

New Delhi: Former Team India coach Gary Kirsten, who had become the most high profile candidate to apply for the Indian women’s coach job last week, has been deemed ‘ineligible’ to appear for the interview which are supposed to take place on December 20 in Mumbai.

CricketNext has learnt that Kirsten has been ruled out of running for job because he is not willing to give up his post as the head coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise.

“A total of 28 candidates have applied for the women’s coach job but Kirsten has been ruled as ineligible because he has refused to give up his position with RCB. There are no other conflicts with other candidates at the moment,” a BCCI source informed CricketNext on Monday.

RCB had also confirmed Kirsten’s commitment to the franchise to CricketNext on Saturday. “Kirsten is the RCB coach and he will continue to remain coach till the end of the season at least,” a RCB spokesperson had informed CricketNext.

In Kirsten’s absence, among other applicants for the job, South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs leads the way and he is joined by the likes of England’s Dimitri Mascarenhas as well as Venkatesh Prasad and WV Raman from India.

“Among the applicants, Gibbs, (Venkatesh) Prasad and (WV) Raman should be favourites for the job. But the ad-hoc committee will take the final call after the interviews on December 20,” the source added.

Prasad was the bowling coach of Indian men’s team from 2007 to 2009 and did the same role with Kings XI Punjab till he was replaced by Australia’s Ryan Harris last week. Former Tamil Nadu opener Woorkeri Raman was batting coach of Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders before take over the India Under-19 team coach earlier this year.

Gibbs, who turned out for South Africa in 90 Tests, 248 ODIs and 23 T20s, began his coaching career by guiding Kuwait in their bid to qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia. More recently he was appointed the head coach of Afghanistan Premier League (APL) franchise Balkh Legends.

It is understood that women’s coach is a much coveted job at the moment with BCCI prepared to offer salary in the range of Rs 3 to 4 crores, depending on the profile and experience of coach selected.

The interviews for the post will be held by an ad-hoc committee that features Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy on December 20.