NEW DELHI: The race for the Indian cricket coach continues to throw up surprises with former South African batsman Gary Kirsten emerging as a front-runner for the high-profile job.

The former South African opener was interviewed in the capital by the Coach Selection Committee -- comprising former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S Venkataraghavan, BCCI Joint Secretary M P Pandove, Treasurer N Srinivasan and secretary Niranjan Shah. "Kirsten was interviewed by the committee in Delhi.

The BCCI will make a formal announcement about the new coach in a week's time," Board vice-President Rajiv Shukla told PTI. "BCCI President Sharad Pawar had said that the coach will be decided in about 10 days and in keeping with his wish, the coach selection panel has expedited the process.

The Indian Team will definitely have a coach before it embarks on the tour of Australia next month," he assured. Kirsten is now almost certain to get the post which has been lying vacant ever since Greg Chappell resigned following India's World Cup debacle in West Indies in March. Kirsten's interview was kept a closely guarded secret unlike the media frenzy that had greeted former applicants Graham Ford and John Embuery earlier this year.

Ford had backed out of taking over the job after being interviewed. A highly-placed BCCI source said Kirsten's meeting with the coach selection panel was kept under wraps as the board did not want a repeat of the Ford-experience. "Kirsten is almost certain to get the job but the cricket board wants to be careful with all the terms and conditions before making a formal announcement," the source said. BCCI office bearers will meet in Kolkata, on December 1, where Gary Kirsten's appointment as India's cricket coach could be ratified.

"The BCCI office bearers will meet in Kolkata on December 1 where the issue of the new coach will certainly come up. The members would be briefed on all the developments regarding the appointment of the coach," BCCI vice-President Rajiv Shukla told PTI.

The meeting will coincide with the second day of the second Test between India and Pakistan at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Lalchand Rajput was with the team for the Twenty20 World in South Africa and was later retained for the ODI series against Australia and the ongoing series against Pakistan.