Kirsten, whose 11-year international career as a solid left-hand batsman ended three years ago, has told the BCCI’s seven-member coach selection panel that interviewed him here last evening that he needs seven days to “make up his mind” after considering the offer from a “family point of view.”

Describing the offer to coach India for the next two years as “a great honour,” Kirsten, who turned 40 just four days ago, told The Indian Express this morning, hours before his flight back home from Mumbai: “It’s a great offer. I had an interesting chat with the selection panel yesterday. One half of my mind immediately said ‘yes’ but I will have to go through the contract carefully, look at it from a family point of view, and get back within seven days.”

Kirsten, half brother of former South Africa batsman Peter Kirsten, is based in Cape Town and is married with two children.

Kirsten added he was not in a position to divulge details of the contract although BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, who was part of the panel that interviewed the South African, confirmed that the offer was for a tenure of two years.

“It has happened all of a sudden. I was approached just a couple of weeks ago. Nothing has been discussed in detail yet. Or confirmed. Everything lies in the contract that is offered,” said Kirsten, who was famous for his no-frills batting but has no serious team coaching experience yet. However, while the world’s richest cricket board is waiting eagerly to know which way he would shake his head, Kirsten, who was South Africa’s batting consultant during India’s tour last year-end, said he had a “fair idea” of the job.

“I have played against some of them (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and current skipper Anil Kumble). I watched them when they were in South Africa for the Test series last year-end. So I do have a fair idea,” he said.

BCCI’s Shah said that the Board would take an official call only after Kirsten agrees to take on the job “to prevent a situation like in June” when Ford (former South Africa coach and Kent’s cricket director) first agreed, attended a much-hyped interview in Chennai, and then backtracked.

Apparently, that was also the reason why this interview was conducted under a shroud of secrecy last evening with even some senior BCCI officials having been kept out of the loop. “The three former captains in the committee (Sunil Gavaskar, S Venkataraghavan and Ravi Shastri) felt that he was the right man at this point of time. They felt he had the right international credentials for the job,” Shah told The Indian Express. The panel hopes that Kirsten, as coach, will work well for the team with Venkatesh Prasad as bowling coach and Robin Singh in charge of fielding. Others in the committee are BCCI president Sharad Pawar, joint-secretary MP Pandove, and treasurer N Srinivasan. If Kirsten agrees, the BCCI hopes he will be able to join the team sometime during the Australia tour — Kirsten’s prior commitments won’t permit him to start earlier — but he will be well placed to guide India through its next big series, which is the home encounter against South Africa scheduled next April.

India has been without a coach since former Aussie skipper Chappell left under a cloud of controversy in April, amid reports of a rift with senior players. Since then, the Board’s hunt for a successor had been drifting along till Pawar drew the line this month, stressing that a coach needed to be appointed before the Australia tour. The team, meanwhile, went to Bangladesh with former all-rounder-turned-commentator

Shastri as interim coach, then England under 73-year-old veteran player and ex-selector Chandu Borde, and has had former India opener Lalchand Rajput filling in for the Twenty20 World Cup, the Australia one-day series, the Pakistan home one-dayers, and the ongoing Test series that India is leading 1-0. During this period, the team beat Bangladesh comprehensively, won the Test series against England, lifted the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, came back strongly against Australia, and beat Pakistan in the one-dayers.

HIS RECORD ON THE FIELD

Team: South Africa

Age: 40 years

Style: Left-hand bat (opener), Right arm off spin

International career span:

December 1993- March 2004

Tests: Test debut against

Australia at Melbourne in 1993 while he played his last Test against New Zealand at Wellington in 2004. Matches: 101, Runs: 7289,

Avg: 45.27, 100: 21, 50: 34

ODIs: First ODI was against Australia at Sydney in 1993 while his last was against Sri Lanka in Durban in 2003 during the World Cup.

Matches: 185, Runs: 6798,

Avg: 40.95, 100: 13, 50: 45

Though Gary Kirsten has never been coach of any international side, he held a week-long coaching clinic with the Zimbabwe national team in July this year. He also runs his own cricket academy in Cape Town. He was appointed as batting consultant for the Warriors, one of South Africa’s domestic teams, back in August 2006. In 2004, after his retirement, he was appointed national High Performance Manager for the United Cricket Board of South Africa now called Cricket South Africa.