Arun Sarin, the former CEO of telecom Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), has emerged as the latest name being considered to replace Jerry Yang as Yahoo’s chief, WSJ reports, citing unidentified sources.  Sarin’s name as a contender feels like a trial balloon. The big test will be how investors greet the news on Tuesday morning when the market opens.

SEE ALSO: Chernin: No Interest At All In Being Top Yahoo

On the surface at least, Sarin fits the basic criteria Yahoo’s board is looking for in a chief exec, including experience heading a public company. He is viewed as someone who cut costs and helped turn Vodafone around. But he also invited his share of criticism from shareholders who felt he was moving too slow into emerging markets as a way of balancing Vodafone’s heavy focus on the sluggish European market. Still, Sarin was able to fend off efforts to push him out of the top job two years ago. The ability to handle that kind of corporate intrigue is probably another reason his name was brought up. But at the end of the day, Yahoo’s pool of potential CEOs is hardly small, even as a big name like News Corp. president/COO Peter Chernin was said to have no interest. And even though Carl Icahn may be opposed to selling Yahoo to Jon Miller, the former AOL CEO and co-founder of VC firm Velocity doesn’t appear to have fallen off the short list as a possible head Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO).

As to what Sarin is doing these days, in an interview to India’s Economic Times last month, he said: “I’ve been keeping busy…I’ve trekked in the Himalayas across Nepal and Bhutan, caught up with friends and moved back to California.” The story’s also a good primer on his career, and his stint at Vodafone.