Greg Chappell in line to become chief coach of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) may end up appointing former Australian captain Greg Chappell as its new chief coach.

The SLC sources said the deadline for the selection had been extended until the end of this month with scales weighing highly in favour of Chappell, who was arguably the world's best bastman in the mid 70s.

Chappell, of course, had a troublesome stint with India resulting in his exit after a disastrous 2007 World Cup campaign.

His differences with some of the senior Indian players including former skipper Sourav Ganguly was known to everyone.

Besides Chappell, two more Australians, Shane Duff and little known Michael O'Sullivan are among the short list of candidates.

Three Indians, Venkatesh Prasad, Lalchand Rajput and Mohit Soni are also in the fray. Paul Farbrace, who have had a stint with Sri Lanka as the assistant coach and Ian Pont are the Englishmen.

Grant Bradburn, the New Zealand 'A' in charge is the sole Kiwi aspirant for the Lankan coach's job. The home aspirants include, the former captain and opening bastman, Marvan Atapattu, 'A' team coach, Romesh Kaluwitharana and the national fielding coach, Ruwan Kalpage.

Image: Greg Chappell

Photograph: Robert Prezioso/Getty Images