Former India spinners Sunil Joshi and Ramesh Powar will be among 20 candidates to be interviewed for the role of the women’s team coach in Mumbai on Friday, a role vacated recently by Tushar Arothe.

Others who will be interviewed are former women’s captain Mamatha Maben former India wicket-keepers Ajay Ratra and Vijay Yadav, and Suman Sharma, who earlier served as the assistant coach when Purnima Rau was in charge.

Maria Fahey, who played two Tests and 51 ODIs for New Zealand, has also applied for the job. The 34-year-old is currently a coach at the ACA Academy in Guntur.

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Joshi and Powar can be considered strong contenders. Powar, who played two Tests and 31 ODIs, is already serving as the interim coach after the controversial exit of Arothe.

Joshi’s experience as player and coach will also be hard to ignore. The left-arm spinner who represented India in 15 Tests and 69 ODIs, has had coaching stints with Oman and most recently Bangladesh. The veteran of 160 first-class games has also coached Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Hyderabad.

Maben would also be a contender, having captained India and possessing previous coaching experience.

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“I saw the advert, I fulfill all the criteria they have asked for experience-wise. A lot of people prompted me and I am a professional coach and I fulfill all the criteria they have asked for in that so I thought why not. Having led the country, I am confident that it will give me a psychological edge with the girls.” she had told Scroll.

“Having been a cricket coach for 10 years, this is a natural progression. It maybe a long shot but worth it,” she added.

COA member Diana Edulji, BCCI cricket operations GM Saba Karim and acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary will be conducting the interviews.

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The BCCI had invited applications for the coach’s role after Arothe’s bitter exit. He and senior players of the team developed serious differences 12 months after he took the team to the World Cup final.

(With PTI inputs)