Rahul Dravid, former Indian captain, has been appointed the head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team by the BCCI, later on Wednesday.
Dravid, taking over Ravi Shastri, had previously coached India under -19 team at the 2016, 2018 World Cups by finishing runners up and champions respectively.
In a BCCI statement commenting on the appointment, Dravid said “It is an absolute honour to be appointed as the new Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team and I am really looking forward to this role. Under Mr Shastri, the team has done very well, and I hope to work with the team to take this forward.”
“Under Mr Shastri, the team has done very well, and I hope to work with the team to take this forward. Having worked closely with most of the boys either at NCA, U19 and India A set-up, I know they have the passion and desire to improve every day. There are some marquee multi-team events in the next two years, and I look forward to working with the players and the support staff to achieve our potential,” he added.
During the Shastri tenure, India became the first Asian team to beat Australia in Australia in a test series.(2018-19), and repeated the same on the 2020-21 tour. Also, the team became first in test ranking without losing a series at home.
Dravid will likely begin his two-year contract on 17 November in the home series against New Zealand as the cricket advisory committee, including Sulakshana Naik and RP Singh made the appointment official.
Former teammate, and the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said on the appointment: “Rahul has had an illustrious playing career and is one of the greats of the game. He has also served Indian Cricket as Head of National Cricket Academy (NCA) with distinction. Rahul’s effort at the NCA has nurtured several young cricketing talents who have gone on to represent the country at the international stage. I am his new stint will take Indian cricket to new heights.”
Dravid’s support staff is yet to be disclosed, while his colleague at the NCA, Paras Mhambrey, is likely to replace Bharat Arun as the bowling coach and Vikram Rathour, present batting couch, had confirmed his reapplication for the position.
