The Indian cricket team is all set to enter a new era, with the Wall of Indian cricket all set to make a comeback in a new avatar. Over the past few years, there have been reports of factionalism in the Indian cricket team. In such circumstances, Dravid is just the kind of team builder that team India needs.
Dravid to become the head coach after the T20 world cup:
As per a TOI report, Rahul Dravid agreed to coach the senior Indian team after a meeting with BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah at Dubai during the IPL final. He will take up the big role after the upcoming T20 world cup in UAE.
TOI quoted a BCCI official as saying, “Dravid has confirmed he will be the next head coach of the Indian team. He will be stepping down as the head of the NCA soon.”
The report has also confirmed that Paras Mhambrey, Dravid’s trusted lieutenant, will take over as the bowling coach replacing Bharat Arun. Meanwhile, no decision has been made on the replacement of fielding coach R Sridhar, and Vikram Rathour will continue as the batting coach.
Rahul Dravid to unite a divided team India?
After team India lost the 2019 World Cup semifinal, a Dainik Jagran report quoted an Indian player while claiming that there were two factions in the team- one following skipper Virat Kohli and the other one following Rohit Sharma.
As per the Dainik Jagran report, many players were not happy with unilateral decisions like preferring Vijay Shankar over Ambati Rayudu for the world cup squad taken by captain Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri.
The report also claimed that there are players who are being given preference and those close to captain Kohli get priority in selection.
The allegations remind one of the Chappell eras when team India was divided into two or three factions and had to face some serious setbacks including an early exit in the 2007 world cup.
Dravid however is just the right man to set things in order. He is not only a true gentleman, but he also has rich experience in coaching youngsters:
- From 2016 to 2019, Dravid served as head coach of India A and U-19 teams.
- In 2016, India finished as runners-up in the U-19 world cup.
- In 2018, India won the U-19 world cup under Dravid’s mentorship.
- Dravid has been serving as Director of Cricket Operations at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bengaluru since 2019.
- Dravid recently coached a second-string team India to an ODI series victory in Sri Lanka.
Dravid to help India win big tournaments:
Ravi Shastri came to the backroom staff of the Indian team in 2014 as the Team director after the horrid tour of England, where Indians lost 4-0. His coaching stint started in 2017 after Anil Kumble stepped down from the position, post the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. It was reported at the time that the duo of Kohli-Shastri had plotted the exit of Kumble with the Indian skipper not comfortable with the legendary leg spinner and his coaching tactics.
Under Shastri’s first tenure as the coach, India agonizingly lost the 2019 World Cup Semi-Final against New Zealand on a reserve day to once again crash out from the knockouts of an ICC tournament.
Despite the unceremonious exit from the quadrennial event, the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Shantha Rangaswamy, Kapil Dev, and Anshuman Gaekwad, on the advice of skipper Kohli in August 2019, unanimously decided to reappoint Ravi Shastri as the head coach of team India for the period from September 2019 till the end of the T20 World Cup 2021.
However, much like the heartbreak of 2019, India went down against the Kiwis again in the World Test Championship Final, despite dominating the teams in the cycle throughout. Since then, calls have been raised to replace Shastri with a coach that can keep Kohli’s occasional excess aggression in check.
The problem with the Indian cricketing team for the past few years has been that the team performs well in bilateral series and even reaches the advantaged stages of big ICC tournaments, but aren’t able to win them.
However, given Dravid’s pleasant experience of several decades and a rich experience in coaching young players, you can expect team India to start doing well and going all the way in big tournaments.
