England's John Emburey joined Graham Ford of South Africa as the two leading contenders in the race for India's next cricket coach, it was announced on Tuesday.

Emburey, 54, the former England off-spinner and currently director of cricket at Middlesex, was unveiled as the second candidate besides Ford in the fray for the high-profile job.

Both Ford and Emburey are expected to discuss their prospects with the coach selection panel of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Chennai on Saturday.

"The BCCI has invited Graham Ford and John Emburey to come to Chennai and make a presentation after which a final decision on the next coach of Indian team will be made," a media release from the board said.

Ford, a former South African coach who now works with English county Kent, on Monday displaced Australian Dav Whatmore as the frontrunner to replace Greg Chappell as the Indian coach.

BCCI officials had over the last week claimed that Whatmore, the former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach, stood a "very good chance" since he was the only person who had shown interest in the Indian job.

But Whatmore was sidelined when the selection panel, headed by BCCI president Sharad Pawar and including three former captains in Sunil Gavaskar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Ravi Shastri, met on Monday night.

"We have decided to invite Ford and another coach of foreign origin for discussions," the BCCI's influential treasurer N. Srinivasan had told reporters after the meeting.

The other person turned out to be Emburey even though BCCI officials had hinted on Monday that former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga was the second candidate.

Media reports said that Ford was recommended by captain Rahul Dravid, a former Kent player who had also persuaded the BCCI to sign up New Zealander John Wright in 2000.

Wright served as India's first foreign coach till 2005 when he was succeeded by Chappell for a two-year term which ended with the World Cup in the Caribbean inApril.

Ford, 46, was South Africa's coach between 1999 and 2001 during which the Proteas won nine of their 11 Test and one-day series.

But his term was marred by match-fixing allegations against the then South African captain Hansie Cronje in 2000 which sparked off one of the worst scandals in the sport.

It remains to be seen if Ford will break his existing contracts with Kent and South African domestic side Dolphins to join India in one of the toughest jobs in world cricket.

Emburey played 64 Tests for England between 1978 and 1995, claiming 147 wickets at 38.40. He also took part in 61 one-day internationals where he took 71 wickets.

India hope to have a new coach in place before their tours of Ireland and England starting in the last week of June.