Former India leg-spinner and captain Anil Kumble was today named by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the head coach of the country's cricket team. 

Kumble, 45, who will take charge from India's upcoming four-Test series in the West Indies in July-August, pipped Ravi Shastri for the post.  

Kumble was chosen by BCCI's cricket advisory committee that included former captains Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and veteran batting star VVS Laxman. 

BCCI President Anurag Thakur told the media that Kumble and Shastri were frontrunners for the job and the committee chose the former.

The post of head coach had fallen vacant following the expiry of Duncan Fletcher's contract at the end of the 2015 World Cup. Ravi Shastri had run the team as its director since the ODI series in England in August 2014. Shastri's contract expired after India bowed out at the semifinal stage of the World T20 earlier this year.

The choice of head coach had boiled down to a race between Shastri and Kumble, although there were candidates like Pravin Amre and Lalchand Rajput. Australians Tom Moody and Stuart Law, both with considerable coaching experience, and Englishman Andy Moles were also in the fray.

Kumble captured 619 wickets in132 Test matches and appeared in 271 ODIs and 54 T20Is for India. 

Kumble's best performance as a bowler came when he grabbed all 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan in Delhi in February, 1999.