Publicly backed by Indian captain Virat Kohli, 57-year-old Shastri was always the frontrunner Phil Simmons had backed out of the interview last minute NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri has been reappointed as head coach of the men’s cricket team, a cricket board selection panel announced Friday. Publicly backed by Indian captain Virat Kohli, 57-year-old Shastri was always the frontrunner. He saw off competition from former Indian all-rounder Robin Singh, former team manager Lalchand Rajput, former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson, Australian cricket coach Tom Moody and former West Indies coach Phil Simmons. Simmons had backed out of the interview last minute, news agency PTI reported. The remaining candidates were interviewed by a three-member cricket advisory committee panel which included World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, ex-national coach Anshuman Gaekwad and ex-women’s team captain Shantha Rangaswamy. Dev announced the decision at a Friday press conference. After missing out on the coach’s job to Anil Kumble in 2016, Shastri was selected as the team’s head coach a year later for a term extending to the end of the 2019 World Cup. He was given a 45-day extension for the current West Indies tour. Shastri coached India to a historic first-ever test series win in Australia earlier this year following Test losses in South Africa and England. Since he took the job, India have won 13 Tests out of 21, 25 out of 36 T20 matches and 43 out of 60 ODIs. Shashtri was an all-rounder best known as part of the India’s World Cup-winning squad in 1983 and his man of the series performance in India’s World Championship triumph in Australia in 1985. He was also team director from 2014 to 2016. Shastri played 80 Tests and 150 one-day internationals for India before becoming a successful TV commentator.