Former India captain Rahul Dravid is set to take over as the national cricket team’s head coach after the T20 World Cup in the UAE, after he reportedly agreed to the BCCI’s offer after initial reluctance.
Dravid is currently the head of the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
Rahul Dravid will be appointed India coach after the 2021 T20 World Cup. Image: Twitter/@BCCI
“Yes, Rahul has agreed to coach the Indian team till 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.
the batting great has given his nod to the head coach position with a two-year contract starting in November this year.
Speculations have been rife for a long time that Dravid was the frontrunner for the post of interim coach for the upcoming home series against New Zealand. Now, reports suggest that the former Indian captain has agreed to coach the national side and will be resigning as the head of NCA soon.
The current Indian coaching staff, including head coach Ravi Shastri, will finish their tenure after the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Dravid had been approached three times by the BCCI previously to take up the position of coaching senor India side. The batsman had earlier rejected the offers, citing a variety of reasons including family responsibilities in Bengaluru as well as his position at the NCA, which enabled him to work on domestic cricket.
However, reports suggest the BCCI has finally managed to convince Dravid to take up the role in a meeting on 15 October. The Board made the offer to Dravid even before constituting a new Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) to search for the new Indian coach.
While the former batsman has not yet given an official reply, reports said that he will consider the position and is likely to respond before the weekend is over. If he accepts, Dravid is likely to draw a salary of Rs 10 crore.
The matter of the BCCI inviting formal applications for the position of coach and Dravid submitting his application for the same still remains. If he does apply, the BCCI is unlikely to consider another candidate. The former captain had recently coached a second-string Indian team on their tour of Sri Lanka, as the national team was concurrently playing in England.
Vikram Rathour is likely to continue as the batting coach of team India, while former Mumbai pacer Para Mhambrey, Dravid’s deputy at the NCA, will take over as the bowling coach.
Earlier, names such as Ricky Ponting, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman were in the running for the post of head coach.
