Guwahati, July 27: Former India international Noel David, former Assam Ranji skipper Dheeraj Jadhav and former state Ranji players and India's leading fitness trainer Nishanta Bordoloi are among some 40 candidates who have applied for posts of coaches and trainers for the Assam cricket teams in the season ahead.

Though the ACA has been tightlipped about the applicants, sources said a number of leading coaches and trainers have applied in response to a newspaper advertisement by the ACA.

The association has already got former Test cap Sunil Joshi on board as the coach for the Ranji Trophy team and he is supposed to join the team on August 1.

The ACA will hold interviews with the candidates on Saturday and Sunday.

The sources said Bordoloi, who is the fitness trainer of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team, apart from being specialist trainer to some of the Indian internationals based in Delhi, has applied only for the Ranji Trophy team while others have not specified any team.

Jadhav, on the other hand, has applied for the post of coach as well as a guest player in the Ranji Trophy team. He led the team to the Ranji Trophy Group A in the 2014-15 season after a six-year stint with Assam, before the ACA ruled him out of the squad last season.

When contacted by The Telegraph, Pune-based Jadhav said: "My dream is to see Assam as Ranji Trophy champions. I still nurture the hope to play and make Assam the champion. Assam has given me much more than even my own state in the six years I was there. Now it is the time to give something back to Assam, albeit through a different role."

The ACA is yet to finalise the third outstation professional, preferably a batsman, for the Ranji team after it decided to sign off Karnataka professional Amit Verma for the season ahead. All-rounder Syed Mohammad and wicketkeeper-batsman Arun Karthick have been retained.