Gautam Gambhir and WV Raman were reportedly interviewed for 40 minutes each by the Cricket Advisory Committee for India's head coach role on Tuesday. Both the former India openers gave satisfactory answers to the questions posed by CAC members Ashok Malhotra, Jatin Paranjape and Sulakhshana Naik. The interview took place on Zoom call as both Gambhir and Raman preferred the virtual interaction.

CAC chairman Malhotra, who is busy with his commentary duties, also joined the meeting via Zoom. According to the news agency, PTI Gambhir is the frontrunner to win the head coach role, and another round of discussion will take place on Wednesday before the BCCI makes the official announcement.

"Yes, Gambhir appeared for the interview with the CAC. One round of discussions happened today. There is another round expected tomorrow," a BCCI source told PTI.

The specifics of his interaction with CAC members Malhotra and his colleagues Paranjape and Naik were not immediately known. Both Paranjpe and Naik are based in Mumbai. It is believed that the discussion was focussed on the road map he has in mind for the next three years, which will feature three ICC tournaments across formats.

The CAC asked a few initial questions, which were mainly focussed on creating different teams for different formats and the transition period in Indian cricket as big stars like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammed Shami have reached the twilight of their careers.

"Raman was interviewed after Gambhir. It was also on zoom," the source told PTI. "He also gave his presentation on his vision and road map on Indian cricket. The interview went for around 40 minutes. There were some initial questions by the committee before they looked at the presentation," the source informed.

Sources in the know told HT that both Raman and Gambhir gave fantastic presentations on their roadmap to win ICC trophies. The CAC members were mighty impressed with their presentations, but the ball is likely to fall on Gambhir's court.

The new head coach will be tasked to lead India through the annual ICC white-ball events cycle as well as the World Test Championship between July 2024 to November 2027. While Gambhir’s success of mentoring Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the IPL 2024 trophy adds heft to his coaching credentials, the gritty left-hander does not have any real coaching experience outside of IPL.

Gambhir’s appointment would be different to Rahul Dravid, who came through the ranks as India U19 and A coach and graduated to international coaching. But recently retired cricketers taking to coaching – Gambhir retired in 2019 and last played for India in 2016 – has its positives as well.

The two-time World Cup winner, apart from his mentoring gigs in the IPL has also been an active commentator and is well versed with the changing demands of present-day cricket. Gambhir met BCCI secretary Jay Shah after the IPL final on May 26 and once he had agreed in principle, did not take up any media assignments for the ongoing World Cup.

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