Former India player Rahul Dravid says that IPL franchises are “missing a trick” by not introducing Indian coaches on board. If not the head coach job, they could join as assistants, since most of the players in the league are Indian only.

“I believe we’ve got some very good coaches, a lot of good people. I’m fully confident [in their ability]. Just as we have a lot of talent in the cricket department, we have a lot of talent in the coaching department,” Rahul Dravid told Cricinfo. “We need to give them confidence and time to flourish. I’m sure they will do it. It does sometimes disappoint me when a lot of our boys don’t get opportunities as assistant coaches in IPL. Honestly, there are so many Indian players in the IPL, there’s so much of local knowledge [among our coaches].”

“I feel a lot of teams could actually benefit from using a lot of our Indian coaches in the IPL. They know the Indian players better, they understand them better. Even as assistant coaches… there is a lot of talent and ability. It just needs to be given the opportunity, and flourish,” he said.

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Along with being the head coach for India A and India U-19 teams, he is now also the NCA director, and also joined hands in developing the Indian coaches.

“A part of our goal is to create a programme for coaches as well, so that we can give them certain skills in which they can develop – and hopefully then get the opportunities to work at a slightly higher level,” Dravid said. “I think a lot of IPL teams miss a trick by not using more domestic talent in the coaching area and the talent identification area, even if it is as assistants. That’s my personal opinion,” he again added.

“It’s not for me to decide for franchises and head coaches what they do, but I think they miss a trick by not involving more Indian coaches. Indian coaches understand and know the system, and they know a lot of Indian players. Every IPL team has at least 17-18 Indian players. It’s my personal view, but I would love to see a lot of our boys get the opportunity to be in and around that environment. Hopefully we can work with some teams to try and ensure that,” Rahul Dravid concluded.