Cricket Buzz: Joshi, Powar among 20 applicants for Indian women's coach job

Former India spinners Sunil Joshi and Ramesh Powar will be among 20 candidates to be interviewed for the role of the women's cricket coach in Mumbai on Friday.

Others who will be interviewed are former India wicket-keepers Ajay Ratra and Vijay Yadav, former women's captain Mamatha Maben 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.

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 Tushar 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.

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

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.

Cummins and Hazlewood out of Pakistan Test series

Fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been ruled out of Australia's Test series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates after failing to recover from injuries, further depleting an already inexperienced side.

Australia head to the UAE for a Test series slated for October without two of their most experienced campaigners, with former captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner suspended after a ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town in March.

With Cummins and Hazlewood still recovering from their lumbar bone stress injuries, much sting has been taken out of the attack of the Tim Paine-led squad.

"Pat and Josh are progressing well from their lumbar bone stress injuries but are not bowling, so unfortunately they will not be at the level required for Test match intensity come October," team physiotherapist David Beakley said in a statement.

"Barring any setbacks, we are hopeful that Pat and Josh will return via the back-end of the (domestic) JLT One-Day Cup, with the aim of them being available for the ODI Series against South Africa in November as they build towards the Indian Test series."

Australia play South Africa in the first one-dayer of the three-match series in Perth on Nov. 4 before hosting India for three Twenty20, four Tests and three one-day internationals.

Australia's pace spearhead Mitchell Starc, however, remains on track to be fit for the USE tour, Beakley said.

"On a positive note Mitchell Starc is back to unrestricted training and remains on track for the Test Series against Pakistan," Beakley said.