Dravid closer to India coach job, Laxman may head NCA

Former India captain Rahul Dravid on Tuesday moved closer to taking over as the next head coach of the Indian team when he formally sent in his application for the job, less than a fortnight after discussing the modalities with officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), including his long-time dressing room colleague Sourav Ganguly, in Dubai

Former India captain Rahul Dravid on Tuesday moved closer to taking over as the next head coach of the Indian team when he formally sent in his application for the job, less than a fortnight after discussing the modalities with officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), including his long-time dressing room colleague Sourav Ganguly, in Dubai.

HT Image

The deadline inviting applicants ended on Tuesday evening, and it is now all but certain that Dravid will get the job after India’s T20 World Cup campaign ends in the UAE.

“Yes, Dravid has sent in his application. We will follow the required procedure. A new member will be added to the Cricket Advisory Committee and they will conduct the interviews,” said a BCCI official who is involved in the process, on condition of anonymity.

Though the procedure dictates that BCCI opens up the application process, and then forms a committee to interview the applicants, in Dravid’s case, the interview is expected to be a formality.

“To be honest, we haven’t even looked at the other applicants,” said the BCCI official.

Dravid will be giving up the post of director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) soon, and a new appointment will be made. VVS Laxman, another batting stalwart from BCCI president Ganguly’s playing days, is among the front-runners, people aware of the matter said. There is no clarity, however, if Laxman will be willing to give up his lucrative IPL and media commitments for the job. Calls and messages to him went unanswered.

Apart from the coach — the current incumbent Ravi Shastri steps down after the T20 World Cup — there will be changes in India’s support staff as well, with batting coach Vikram Rathour the only one expected to be retained, officials indicated. Rathour, who has worked with Dravid at NCA, has submitted his application for the job. Former India batter Pravin Amre, currently batting coach with Delhi Capitals, is also expected to apply. The deadline for applications for the supporting coaches is November 3. For the bowling coach’s job, Paras Mhambrey, who is coaching the India A team and has worked extensively with Dravid at NCA and at the U-19 level, is a front-runner. Former India players Abhay Sharma and Ajay Ratra have applied to be India’s fielding coach.

Dravid has been on the coaching circuit for the past seven years working at various levels — from a less-than-successful stint in the IPL with Delhi Daredevils, to a long and fruitful association with India A, India U-19, and as the head of the National Cricket Academy, where he is widely credited for shaping the next generation of international cricketers.

When current coach Ravi Shastri first announced in September that he would step down after the ongoing T20 World Cup, BCCI approached Dravid, but failed to convince him at the time to take up a job that would require much of the year be spent on tour.

It was finally in this month’s meeting with the BCCI top brass in Dubai — Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah — that Dravid shed his reluctance, and agreed to become the coach for the next two years, the official cited in the first instance said. These two years are packed with ICC tournaments in each format, starting with the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, the ICC World Test Championship in 2023 and the ODI World Cup at home in that same year.

A big expectation from Dravid would be to end India’s drought of winning ICC trophies. Since Shastri took over in 2014 (Anil Kumble was coach for one year in 2016-17) India have developed into a formidable force in Test cricket with a crack fast bowling attack, but do not have an ICC trophy to show for their success. India’s last major title was the 2013 Champions Trophy. Since then, they have been knocked out from the 2015 ODI World Cup, the 2016 T20 World Cup, 2017 Champions trophy, and the 2019 ODI World Cup.

The BCCI appointed former India captain MS Dhoni as “mentor” for the ongoing World Cup after increasing dissatisfaction with the team’s inability to win a trophy.

In the past, apart from not wanting to spend that much time away from his family — the Indian head coach job is a full-time job except the two months of IPL— Dravid’s reluctance came from being unsure if he could work successfully with captain Virat Kohli.

Kohli has already announced that he will be giving up the T20 captaincy after this World Cup. The BCCI has hinted that he may not remain ODI captain either, though he is likely to continue as Test captain.

Kohli briefly shared the Indian dressing room with Dravid as a player — he made his ODI debut in 2008 and Test debut in June 2011. Dravid played his last match for India in January 2012.