Rahul Dravid is all set to be appointed as the new head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team replacing Ravi Shastri, whose tenure ends after the upcoming T20 World Cup in UAE.
The 48-year-old Dravid, who is one of the greatest batsmen ever to play for India, has been in charge of the India A and U-19 set-up for the past six years and a lot of players such as Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari and Shubman Gill have made their way into the senior team through the system prepared by him.
He is currently the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and will quit the job after taking over the coaching role of Team India.
“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 on conditions of anonymity.
“It won’t be an interim role,” he added.
Meanwhile, Paras Mhambrey is likely to be the new bowling coach while Vikram Rathour would continue as batting coach.
According to media reports, the BCCI is offering Dravid a significant hike in salary, which will be more than his NCA remuneration as well as Shastri’s current pay cheque. The biggest reason to bring Dravid and Mhambrey on board is to ensure that in coming two years, when the transition of the Indian men’s team happens, the changing of nucleus is smooth.
“Rohit [Sharma] will be 35 next year, Virat [Kohli] is days away from his 33rd birthday. Apart from them Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane are all fantastic players but at some point during next two years, they will be phased out. “The players who are set to come in are mostly from the U-19 set-up. So it’s imperative that Dravid is appointed,” the source added further.
Earlier this year, Dravid was the head coach of a second-string Indian side that toured Sri Lanka while the main team was in England.
