1. The applicants
Ravi Shastri is the current head coach and his tenure will end with India's tour of the West Indies. Phil Simmons, the former West Indian all-rounder, has coached Windies, Ireland and Afghanistan. Tom Moody, the former Australian all-rounder, has coached Sri Lanka and led them to the ICC World Cup 2007 final. He was also coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad for a few years and the franchise won the IPL title under his guidance. Mike Hesson has coached New Zealand and was also the coach of Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2019. Then we have Indian duo of Lalchand Rajput, former manager who also coached Afghanistan, and Robin Singh, former India all-rounder and fielding coach, in the fray.
2. The role of CAC
The Cricket Advisory Committee is led by former Indian captain Kapil Dev and includes former India cricketers Anshuman Gaekwad and Shanta Rangaswamy. They will select only the head coach after interviewing the six aspirants including Shastri, who has gained an automatic entry into the pool as the incumbent head coach. The CAC will inform CoA led by Vinod Rai about their decision for final approval before making the announcement.
3. Support staff selection
A number of candidates like former South African player Jonty Rhodes (fielding coach), former Karnataka batsman J Arun Kunar (batting coach) and former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi (bowling coach) has applied for various posts. But they will be interviewed by senior national selection comittee chaired by chief selector MSK Prasad. Their names too will be announced along with the head coach.
4. The favourite for head coach role
Ravi Shastri is the frontrunner because he has the backing of captain Virat Kohli. The CoA might also take into consideration of the fact that the ICC T20 World Cup is about an year ago and they would not like to bring a new coach on board right now and might consider continuing the present set-up. Bharat Arun, the current bowling coach, may continue but Sanjay Bangar, the assistant/batting coach, and fielding coach R Sridhar might face stiff competition from other candidates.