Cricket Australia Director and former Test player Allan Border has said Greg Chappell, currently the coach of the Indian team, was a strong candidate to replace John Buchanan.
Border, also a national selector, will play an important role in hunting for the right person to take up the job as current Australian coach Buchanan ends his nearly eight-year stint after next year's World Cup in the Caribbean.
"John has decided that after the World Cup he is going to be moving on. Therefore we need an Australian coach. It's a tough job," Border said.
"Tom Moody, Tim Nielsen, Greg Chappell is in the mix, Dav Whatmore is now coaching Bangladesh and he was a long-term coach at Sri Lanka as well. We've got a lot of good candidates for a tough job," he was quoted as saying by 'The Daily Telegraph'.
Tom Moody, now coaching Sri Lanka, and Tim Nielsen, the head coach of Australia's Centre of Excellence in Queensland, were the favourites but Chappell was expected to be a strong candidate.
The report also said that Chappell's contract, which also expires at the end of the World Cup, "will not be renewed by mutual arrangement with the Indian Cricket Board".
However, Chappell himself denied that he was in contention to coach Australia's national team.
The India coach said in Colombo that neither was he approached by the CA nor did BCCI say that his term would not be extended.
"I haven't really followed the story. If Allan Border did say that, then I assume that they might be in the process of identifying candidates to succeed Buchanan. If the media want to pick up a quote and run with it, then that's their prerogative," he was quoted as saying by 'Cricinfo'.