Foreign coach to be decided by October 23

Australians Geoff Marsh and Dean Jones, and New Zealander John Wright are in the running for the job of coach of the Indian cricket team.

The three aspirants will hold separate discussions with officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, including its president A C Muthiah and former president Raj Singh Dungrapur in Madras on October 23.

The selected candidate is likely to be announced on the same day, Muthiah said on phone from Nairobi.

Wright is considered to be a front runner for the post.

Dungarpur said the idea behind having an Indian as an assistant to a foreign coach is to enable the Indian to be in a position to take over once the foreigner's term expires.

Muthiah denied reports emanating from Dubai that current coach Anshuman Gaekwad will be appointed assistant coach. The board chief expressed his happiness with the Indian team's performance leading to its qualifying for the final against New Zealand on Sunday.

He praised Saurav Ganguly for his able leadership and singled out compliments for Yuvraj Singh for his all-round performance.

Mail Cricket Editor