Former leg-spinner Anil Kumble has been named as India's new cricket head coach for a period of 12 months.
The announcement, made by BCCI on Thursday evening, put an end to months of speculation over who the new man in charge of the Indian team would be.
The decision was arrived at after extensive discussions within the BCCI panel comprising former captains Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman, who have all been teammates of Kumble and entirely aware of the man and his modus operandi.
It is reported that the panel was highly impressed with Kumble's presentation, which included a comprehensive plan chalking out the future of Indian cricket.
Kumble's rather calm yet authoritative nature may also have turned the tables in his favour over Shastri as it is seen as an ideal complement to Kohli's aggressive demeanour.
The original list of 57 candidates was whittled down to 21 last week and did not even include the name of Kumble, who was initially considered to not have the required credentials.
Although he had virtually no prior international coaching experience, Kumble managed to leapfrog the likes of Sandeep Patil, Tom Moody, Lalchand Rajput and Venkatesh Prasad - individuals with some decent coaching experience - thanks to his mentoring stints in IPL.
As the race developed into a two-horse one between Kumble and Shastri, it was expected that Shastri's proximity to Kohli would give him the edge against the former India leg spinner.
Shastri, who was India's Team Director up until this year World T20 in Bangladesh, was supposed to hold a distinct advantage after BCCI reportedly asked Kohli to pick from between him and Kumble.
