Herschelle Gibbs, one of the most destructive batsmen to play for South Africa, has announced that he has applied for the position of head coach of the Indian women’s cricket team.

In response to a tweet from a user, the 44-year-old replied that he has put his name forward.

Gibbs will be one of the most high-profile names to interview for the post, which has mostly seen Indian cricketers apply so far. The position has been vacant since interim coach Ramesh Powar’s contract ended in November following a controversy during the ICC Women’s World T20 last month.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India had issued an advertisement inviting applications for the post, stating that the applicant “needs to be a Level C qualified coach, should have played international cricket, or coached an international team for at least one year, or Coached in a T20 tournament for two seasons, or played at least 50 first-class matches.”

Gibbs, who has played 90 Tests, 248 ODIs and 23 T20Is for South Africa, started coaching the Kuwait national team last year and was also part of the recently concluded T10 League. He has also been the head coach of Afghanistan Premier League (APL) franchise Balkh Legends.

This is the second time the Indian women’s team has invited applications for head coach in a year after Tushar Arothe controversially stepped down following the Asia Cup final loss.

Ray Jennings, another South African, is also supposedly considering applying. “I haven’t made up my mind yet,” Jennings told CricketNext. “India is like my second home. I have to do some homework, look at where all they are touring, what are the challenges and future assignments of the team. But if Herschelle has applied, he’ll do a good job if picked.”

However, it is learnt that Powar is yet to re-apply despite being backed by Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana after the tumultuous end to his tenure. After being left out of the World T20 semi-final, Mithali Raj had alleged that Powar had humiliated her, while the coach countered her by claiming that she had threatened to retire when she was denied the opening slot and threw tantrums.

Also read: In the Mithali Raj-Ramesh Powar saga, Indian cricket is the real loser