On Sunday the BCCI officials Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah announced that the former Indian captain Rahul Dravid will be leading his team from the front now becoming the new coach of the blue-army.
It is certain that there are plenty of developments and restructuring happening to the Indian team. While Rahul Dravid is set to replace Ravi Shastri and be the new coach of this side. Virat Kohli has also decided to step down from his captaincy in the T20 format. Rohit Sharma will be filling his boots right after the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup ends.
Announcement
Now that the Indian Premier League is over the BCCI officials will be focusing on the upcoming multi-team tournament, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. It has been almost a decade since India has won this trophy; despite having a top T20 team in world cricket they have lacked efficiency and consistency, ever since. This T20 World Cup would be a vital one for Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli, both of whom have not won any ICC trophies since their appointment. To tackle this poor run of form of reaching the finals and not lacking the finishing touch the BCCI decided that Shastri’s time in the office is over.
Speculations suggest that both Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah have held meetings with Rahul Dravid who has already been the coach of the India A team. The secretary and president have been able to persuade the former Indian captain to be the coach of his national side up until 2023.
Dravid Coaching Career
Rahul Dravid, who served as the head of operations of the National Cricket Academy, Bangalore. He has announced that he will step down from the role and take over the coaching job.
Although Dravid retired from all forms of cricket in 2012. He continued being the mentor of the India A team and India u-19, before becoming the coach of the same. Between the period 2016 to 2019; Dravid led his team to the u-19 World Cup semis and in 2018 he successfully managed to win the u-19 World Cup. His sound batting technique and game reading have always been excellent. Dravid fits the profile of a coach with the right mentality to motivate his team to do better.
ICC Men’s World Test Championship Final
In July 2021 when the Indian team was preparing for the ICC Men’s World Test Championship Final, it was Dravid who served as the temporary coach as team India traveled to Sri Lanka for their 3-match ODI and 3-match T20 series. Despite fielding a relatively young and inexperienced squad, Rahul Dravid managed to make sure India do not falter. He won the ODI series and lost the T20 series by a fine margin of a single match, despite a good start to the game.
The BCCI will be giving Dravid a contract of 2 years and the process of appointing a new coach began on October 12. Vikram Rathore will continue being the batting coach of the team, while Dravid will replace Shastri. The 48-year old is credited for mentoring the likes of Rishab Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari, and Shubman Gill. These new sets of players who have been inducted to the Indian team will find Dravid favorites as Shastri’s replacement. Dravid’s contract at the NCA was renewed in the previous month and the role of the head coach will see him get a significant hike from his previous salary. It is believed that Dravid will draw a salary of 10 crores which will be more than his remuneration at NCA and also more than Ravi Shastri’s current paycheck.
End of Shastri’s Tenure
Ravi Shastri’s tenure as the Indian head coach ends as soon as the T20 World Cup ends. Over this period Shastri started as the director of operations till the 2015 World Cup. In 2017 he was appointed as the head coach of the team. Although Shastri has not delivered an ICC trophy in his tenure; he has definitely helped the Indian team make progress in rebuilding the squad with better depth in the middle order and giving opportunities to a number of bowling prodigies who have proved to be instrumental in the long run.
Conclusion
The appointment of Dravid will be good news as the younger team members and the fans will certainly eye for winning the Champions Trophy.