A panel including former captains Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly will select India's next head coach from a shortlist of 21 candidates by June 22, the country's cricket board (BCCI) has said. The BCCI received 57 applications and despite recommending a smaller pool of nominees, all of the petitions will still be available to a panel which also includes former Test batsman VVS Laxman, board secretary Ajay Shirke said in a statement. The post has been vacant since Ravi Shastri's tenure as the team director ended with India's semifinal exit at the World Twenty20 tournament on home soil earlier this year. Shastri has thrown his hat in the ring once more, while former captain Anil Kumble and chief selector Sandeep Patil have also confirmed they were keen to take on one of the most challenging jobs in international cricket. Tendulkar will tune in from abroad by video link The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) release added that Tendulkar, who is out of the country, "has confirmed his availability as and when required through video conference facilities." The high-powered committee has less than a week to pick a coach, with their choice expected to be submitted for approval by June 22. The new coach is likely to be appointed before India's tour of the West Indies in July. "The said committee... will process and scrutinize all the applications, conduct interviews and seek presentations from candidates as the committee deems fit," BCCI secretary said. The BCCI hasn't named any of the candidates, but media reports suggest that the front-runners are Shastri and Patil. Hadlee backs day-night Tests Day-night Test is the future of cricket's longest format but the boards should not rush it, according to New Zealand pace great Richard Hadlee. Australia played the first day-night Test against New Zealand at Adelaide Oval last November and have agreed another flood-lit match with South Africa at the same venue during the home summer. The concept has found ready takers in south Asia with India trialling pink-balls and Pakistan agreeing to play a floodlit Test in Brisbane in December. "You try, it is the game of the future. Probably one Test in a series is fair enough," Hadlee told reporters in Mumbai. "I think most people like to see the traditional format during the day." The durability of the pink kookaburra ball and the dew factor in India have raised doubts about the future of a floodlit Test in the country. Hadlee said the players must get ample practice before such a contest. "It is important for the players to have practice games; you cannot ask them to go out there and ask them to play a day-night game against the pink ball. "It is unrealistic in professional environment era. That needs to be tried and tested, so players can get some confidence." "Conditions are different all around the world, so we don't really know how the pink ball is going to work here in India and that's why players need to have those practice games," he added.
