Former Committee of Administrators (CoA) chairman Vinod Rai has revealed the underlying reasons why Rahul Dravid refused to take charge of Team India’s coaching role. Following an abrupt end of Anil Kumble’s tenure, the coaching recruitment panel initially reached the former Indian captain, but he turned down the offer graciously, owing to personal reasons.
In a live session with Sportskeeda on Facebook, Rai said: “Rahul was very upfront with us.”
“He said, ‘look I have two boys growing up at home and I have been travelling with the Indian team all over the world and I am not able to give time and attention to them, I think I must stay at home also. And give time to my family.’
“I think that was a very fair request and thought he would have been uppermost in mind. So, he was very much in the zone of consideration.”
Rai further revealed another reason that prevented Dravid from taking up Team India’s coaching role. ‘The Wall’, as he is popularly known across the nation, was already working at the grassroots level, coaching both India A and U-19 squads, and he didn’t want to leave those projects midway.
Eventually, Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) appointed another former Indian cricketer and a loquacious commentator, Ravi Shastri, as the head coach for Men in Blue.
“Look, in terms of potential for coaching, Dravid, Shastri and Kumble are the best in the business,” Rai said. “We definitely talked to Rahul. He was engaged with the Under-19 team and he was involved with them. He had developed a road map on how to develop a team. He was bringing out fantastic results. He wanted to continue because he felt that there were some unfinished tasks with that team and he wanted to do it.”
Under Dravid’s mentorship, India lifted the 2018 U-19 World Cup title. He is currently serving as the head coach of National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
