Rahul Dravid will replace Ravi Shastri in the role after the T20 World Cup 2021.
Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar hailed Rahul Dravid’s appointment as the new head coach of the Indian cricket team, saying the former skipper will bring his vast experience in shaping the team.
Dravid brings along with him his experience of coaching the India A and India U19 teams, along with being a long-time head at the NCA. Notably, some of Dravid’s students are currently playing for India in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021.
On Wednesday, November 3, the BCCI announced the appointment of Dravid as Team India’s new head coach, replacing Ravi Shastri after the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021. He will take charge from the upcoming home series against New Zealand, starting November 17.
Reacting to the developments, Gavaskar said Dravid’s appointment as new India coach and the Indian team’s comeback victory of 66 runs against Afghanistan was the best news for Indian cricket this week.
Gavaskar told India Today, “Indian cricket should be going ahead and ahead. He will bring his vast experience, the work ethic that he embodied when he played the game, the deep thinking about tactics, and so on. You need to have some instinctiveness during matches but you also need to be able to plan and I think this and the win over Afghanistan is probably the best news Indian cricket has had over the last one week or so.”
He continued, “After this tournament is over you've got to have a new coach, and the earlier he is appointed, the better it is because he will also get time to plan. And so this move of appointing him today is a very good move because it has given him some time before the tournament finishes.”
Gavaskar signed off by saying, “There are still two more matches that India have to play. Right now it is time for Dravid to take stock of the situation after watching the matches and he will then decide what is best for Indian cricket.”