The tour will start with the first ODI on July 13 in Colombo.
Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has opened up on Rahul Dravid’s role as Team India head coach for their upcoming limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka later this June 2021.
The Indian cricket team is all set to play three ODIs and as many as T20Is in Sri Lanka with the white-ball tour opening with the ODI game in Colombo on July 13 under the captaincy of Shikhar Dhawan.
Reacting to Dravid’s role as India head coach in Sri Lanka, Tendulkar believes that the former India captain’s primary job will be to maintain a healthy atmosphere in the team, as the role of a coach in international cricket is limited since everyone is aware of their jobs.
Dravid was the coach of the India A and the U19 sides for four years from 2015. He was then appointed head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in 2019. The Indian legend will be coaching the Shikhar Dhawan-led India side for their limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka next month.
He also highlighted the fact that most of the young Indian players have spent a considerable amount of time with Dravid when he was the coach of the India A and the Under-19 sides for four years and then head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and it will be beneficial for them.
Tendulkar told the Times of India: “These players have spent enough time with Rahul, so they know him. A coach is someone who should keep a healthy atmosphere in the team and the dressing room, and Rahul will do that. At this level, unless there are weaknesses, you don’t need to coach the players. They all know how to hit a cover drive or bowl an out-swinger. When somebody is struggling, that’s when someone of his experience will play a role. Otherwise, the team knows what they are supposed to do.”
On the India squad picked for the Sri Lanka tour, the master blaster said: “Shikhar Dhawan (skipper for the ODI, T20 series) has been around for 10 years. That’s a long enough period. The team is a nice mixture of experience and youth, and Rahul is around to help them without any doubt.”
India’s squad for SL tour (ODIs and T20Is):
Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya
Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh