Ravi Shastri has been retained as the head coach of India after he was announced as the preferred choice of the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) on Friday.

Shastri beat competition from New Zealand’s Mike Hesson, Australia’s Tom Moody, Lalchand Rajput and Robin Singh after the five shortlisted candidates interviewed for the job before the Kapil Dev-led CAC on Friday.

Hesson was the second most preferred choice among the candidates for the CAC with Moody being the third preference.

The CAC had earlier shortlisted six candidates for the role including Phil Simmons but the former West Indies and Ireland coach pulled out of the running at the last hour citing personal reasons.

Shastri and Moody appeared for their interview with the CAC via Skype on Friday while Hesson, Robin Singh and Lalchand Rajput made the journey to the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai to appear before the panel.

Shastri is currently with the Indian team in the West Indies after the support staff were given a 45-day extension for the ongoing tour and he will now sign a new two-year contract with the BCCI which is set to run until the 2021 T20 World Cup.

The rest of Shastri’s support cast including the batting, bowling and fielding coaches will be selected by the MSK Prasad-led senior selection committee.

Shastri was already being seen as a favourite to retain his job due to his excellent equation with skipper Virat Kohli and the former India all-rounder was given an automatic entry into the recruitment process after the BCCI invited applications for the role.

In Shastri’s previous tenure, India managed to bag their maiden Test series win on Australian soil while also reaching the top of the Test rankings. The Men in Blue recorded a maiden ODI series win on South African soil as well under Shastri but had to face a semi-final exit at the hands of New Zealand in the recently concluded 2019 World Cup.