The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly has revealed that former India captain Rahul Dravid has asked for time to decide whether he wants to take up the job of the Indian team head coach.
Ganguly also mentioned that there is no confirmation on whether Dravid has agreed to take up the role or will he apply for the position for the head coach, for which the BCCI had recently announced a vacancy as Ravi Shastri’s tenure comes to an end with the T20 World Cup 2021 completion in November.
"There is no confirmation (On Dravid becoming coach). If he wants to apply, he will apply, the process has to happen. For now, he is the coach of NCA and I believe NCA has a big role to play in Indian cricket. I have spoken to him earlier about this as well and he was not that interested and I feel the situation is still the same. He has asked for some time, let's see what happens,” Ganguly said during the Salaam India conclave.
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Rahul Dravid has a great record as a coach given his success with the India A teams and India U19 teams as well. Under his leadership, India U19 reached the finals of the 2016 Youth World Cup in Bangladesh and then won the 2018 U19 World Cup in New Zealand.
He has helped prepare a great bench strength for the Indian team and made sure India gets a consistent supply of players whenever needed. Hence Ganguly stressed the importance of keeping former great players involved with cricket in the country.
"How many times do you see players Dravid, (Sachin) Tendulkar, (MS) Dhoni, (VVS) Laxman, and Virat Kohli coming up in one country in such a short span. They have to be utilized. Imagine if you don't use Wasim Akram in Pakistan then who will you use?
In England, if you don't involve players like Kevin Pietersen or Alastair Cook, who are you going to involve? They have made a place for themselves with their performances and the more these players are involved in Indian cricket, the better it will be for the sport here," said Ganguly.
(India Today inputs)
