Former Australian batsman Michael Bevan is learnt to have thrown his hat in the ring as the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will hold a meeting to select a new coach for the next season. The selection process, which was scheduled to start on Saturday, may get deferred by a day as Sourav Ganguly will be busy attending the CAB’s working committee meeting on Saturday and will go to Mumbai on Sunday.

Bevan, who coached Chennai Superstars in the rebel Indian Cricket League, is reportedly the new entrant, but his success as a player in the shorter version of the game can be a crucial factor.

The Knight Riders management is expected to take a cautious approach to select John Buchanan’s replacement. The selection process will see the likes of John Wright, Richard Pybus, Duncan Fletcher, Dermot Reeve, as also some Indian candidates like Lalchand Rajput, Ashok Malhotra and Chandrakant Pandit meeting the KKR supremo Shah Rukh Khan and putting forward their ideas through presentations.

According to a source, Pybus, who coaches South African domestic team Titans, appears to be a firm favourite at the moment. “The team would like to appoint someone who would be compatible and at the same time has the experience of coaching in Twenty20 cricket,” the source said. According to Pybus, he is coming here on a “fact-finding” weekend.

Wright, who is in Chennai with the New Zealand ‘A’ team for the Buchi Babu Trophy, barely has any coaching experience in the Twenty20 format. But if Ganguly, who is widely believed to be reinstated as captain, has a say in the matter, then Wright still has a chance to edge past Pybus or Reeve.

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