Gary Kirsten Could Go From Being Indians Coach to Mumbai Indians Coach in IPL 4?

That is the new buzz about town. Although nothing concrete has materialized and India's immediate attention is on the forthcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, there is no doubt that Gary Kirsten's profile as a coach has received an uplift following his stint as the Indian cricket team coach. Could that pave the way for a shorter stint with one of the IPL 4 teams and franchisees?

gary kirsten ms dhoni sachin tendulkar

Gary Kirsten is almost out of the running to continue as India's coach post World Cup. While that has met with disappointed responses all round, all may not be lost for India altogether. At least that is what the grapevine seems to be abuzz about.

Kirsten was known as former South African batsman before he began the coaching tenure with India. But in the last couple of years not only have India risen in the rankings but also, Kirsten's resume has soared. And no one seems to want him more than the Indians closely followed by South Africa.

However, while Kirsten has cited family interests for not being keen to continue as India's coach, there are also rumours that Kirsten may not want the length of a national coach and the demands of it. As a result, South Africa could lose Kirsten even before getting him on board, although the South African cricket board has kept a door open by extending the deadline for South African coaching applications.

But the fact that Kirsten has not only acclimatized to the Indian role but also, has had experience of playing and coach in Indian sub continent conditions may actually favour him to strike a deal with one of the IPL 4 franchisees if he wishes to do so. New Zealand's Stephen Fleming does a similar short stint of being the Chennai Super Kings coach which rules out the continuing association of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gary Kirsten. On the contrary, it is the smooth Dhoni-Fleming partnership that had pitched Fleming as the potential Indian coach before the former New Zealand captain ruled it out.

However, one of the people tremendously impressed by Kirsten's input has been Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar has even gone on record to state that Kirsten's influence and discussions helped Tendulkar to prolong his reign over the cricket field and accelerated his run scoring in the last couple of years.

If that is indeed the case and Kirsten does intend to continue on short bursts of coaching stints, he may find the idea of getting on board the Mumbai Indians hard to resist. Besides, given the money circulating around the Indian Twenty20 domestic competition, the short stint could actually be quite lucrative and worth spending a couple of months away from home rather than join the rigourous grind with a national team.

But will Kirsten take the bait?