Former India captain, Rahul Dravid is the frontrunner to be the next head coach of the Indian men’s team. It is understood that BCCI officials had discussions with Dravid before the IPL final, and he has agreed to the role.
“Yes, Rahul has agreed to coach the Indian team till the 2023 World Cup. Initially, he was reluctant. But it is understood that president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah had a meeting with Rahul on the sidelines of the IPL final where they were able to convince him,” a BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Paras Mhambrey will be the new bowling coach while Vikram Rathour will continue as the batting coach
As per The Times of India, Dravid’s contract will run till 2023. He will take over the job after T20 World Cup 2021, which ends in November. Dravid is presently the head of the National Cricket Academy and will leave that post before taking over as India’s head coach. Dravid will be joined by Paras Mhambrey as bowling coach while Vikram Rathour will continue as the batting coach.
The basic idea behind having the Dravid-Mhambrey combination in the Indian team set-up is to ensure that the smooth transition happens. In the next two years, we’ll see lots of senior players getting retired and young players will be coming into the squad. Rahul Dravid and Paras have worked at the U-19 level, India A, and also traveled to Sri Lanka recently with the Indian team. Paras Mhambrey was the head coach of the India U-19 cricket team in the 2020 World Cup.
“Rohit will be 35 next year, Virat is days away from his 33rd birthday. Apart from them Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane are all fantastic players. But at some point during the next two years, they will be phased out. The players who are set to come in are mostly from the U-19 setup. So it’s imperative that Dravid is appointed,” the source said.
Rahul Dravid, The man behind India’s phenomenal bench strength
Dravid has been a key contributor in building up a strong Indian bench strength. He has played a key role in the rise of Indian youngsters over the last few years. Including the likes of Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson, etc. He has also won a U-19 World Cup in 2018 as an India coach.
Rahul Dravid recently went to Sri Lanka as head coach of India’s limited-overs squad. India won the ODI series 2-1 in Sri Lanka but lost the T20I series 1-2 under the coaching stint of Dravid. At the end of the series, he was asked if wanted to be India’s head coach on a long-term basis. Dravid said: “I haven’t really thought anything far ahead, to be honest. I am enjoying doing what I am doing.”