Former India women’s team fielding coach Abhay Sharma is set to apply for the position of the Indian men’s team fielding coach in order to replace R Sridhar, whose tenure comes to an end after the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021.

A BCCI source has confirmed that 52-year-old Abhay, who has been part of India A and India U19 set-ups as well, will apply for the fielding coach position for the senior India men's team. The application deadline ends on November 3.

"He will be applying for the role soon," a BCCI source confirmed.

Sharma, who has played 89 first-class games representing Delhi, Railways, and Rajasthan, was the fielding coach of the Indian team which traveled to Zimbabwe in 2016. He also toured with the Indian team on the tour of the USA and West Indies in the same year.

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Recently, his work was praised by the Indian women cricketers including skipper Harmanpreet Kaur during the UK tour before he was replaced for the subsequent tour of Australia. Sharma has traveled to three U-19 World Cups, most recently in South Africa in 2020. He has also been part of around 10 India A tours.

Apart from this, Abhay Sharma is also one of the coaches in the National Cricket Academy and has worked extensively with its chief Rahul Dravid, who is among the front-runners for the India head coach job. 

(PTI inputs)