Former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid, on Tuesday, has applied for the post of India men’s team’s head coach. Ravi Shastri’s tenure will be ending after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE and Oman.
Rahul Dravid was head coach when Team India toured Sri Lanka in July this year
Dravid’s team consisting of Paras Mhambrey (bowling coach) and Abhay Sharma (fielding coach) have already applied for the post.
“Yes, Rahul has formally applied today as it’s the last day of the deadline. His team at the NCA, bowling coach Paras (Mhambrey) and fielding coach Abhay (Sharma) have already applied. His application was just a formality,” a senior BCCI official was quoted as saying by PTI on Tuesday.
It is being understood that Dravid is the first and only choice of BCCI head Sourav Ganguly for the post of Team India’s head coach. Dravid travelled to Dubai during the Indian Premier League 2021 final and had a talk with Ganguly and Jay Shah about the proposed role.
Dravid is currently serving as the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), which will be left vacant after his appointment as the head coach. VVS Laxman is likely to fill this post once Dravid comes onboard with Team India.
It is learnt from sources that Laxman might not continue as the mentor of IPL side Sunrisers Hyderbad and in case, he is selected, he would also have to leave his media commitments including commentary and writing columns.
Indian team captain Virat Kohli with coach Ravi Shastri
The national coach and the NCA head are expected to work in close coordination keeping the interests of Indian cricket in mind. The other aspect that needs to be chalked out is the fact that Laxman is a resident of Hyderabad, where he has a young family with children just in their teens and also old parents.
Laxman, it is learnt, was reluctant to take up the NCA Director of Cricket offer but BCCI would once again be approaching him.
