Abhay Sharma applies to be India's fielding coach

Former first-class cricketer Abhay Sharma, who has worked extensively with India A, India U-19 and the national women's team, on Friday, applied for the national men's team fielding coach's job.

Sharma has emerged as one of the strong contenders for the fielding coach role with incumbent R Sridhar leaving at the end of the T20 World Cup along with the majority of the support staff, including head coach Ravi Shastri.

"Abhay's (Sharma) application has come today," a BCCI source told PTI.

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The application deadline ends on November 3.

The 52-year-old has worked extensively alongside former India A and U19 coach Rahul Dravid, who has applied for the head coach position. Another India A coach Paras Mhambrey has applied for the bowling coach position.

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

More recently, he was praised for his work by the Indian women cricketers, including T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur during the UK tour before he was replaced for the subsequent tour of Australia.

ODI and Test skipper Mithali Raj also acknowledged Sharma's good work after Harleen Deol took a stunner during the UK tour.

Sharma has travelled to three U-19 World Cups, most recently in South Africa in 2020. He has also been part of around 10 India A tours.

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