Rahul Dravid has been appointed as India’s head coach, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed. Dravid will take over as head coach after the completion of T20 World Cup 2021, starting with the home series against New Zealand starting November 17.
“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. Having worked closely with most of the boys either at NCA, U19 and India A setup, 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,” Dravid said in a statement released by BCCI.
The decision to appoint David as the new head coach was taken unanimously by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising of Sulakshana Naik and Rudra Pratap Singh on November 3.
Former Indian skipper and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly congratulated Dravid on the top job and hopes that he will take Indian cricket to new heights.
“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 hopeful that his new stint will take Indian cricket to new heights,” Ganguly said.
The BCCI secretary Jay Shah also expressed his excitement on the new appointment. Shah also said that the members of the support staff who will assist Dravid will soon be appointed as well.
“There is no better person than Rahul Dravid and I am delighted to see him being appointed as the Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team. With two World Cups scheduled to take place in the next two years, it is important to have a seamless transition, and the former India captain is the right man for the job. Having provided the much-needed direction to NCA and overseen the progression of the boys at India U-19 and India A level, we believe this is also a natural progression for him as a coach. I have no doubt that under him, the Indian team will dominate in all formats. The Board will soon make appointments of other coaching staff, who will support the Head Coach in jointly achieving our targets,” the 33-year-old said.
BCCI also thanked current head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R Sridhar and batting coach Vikram Rathour for their services which have helped India become the first Asian team to win a Test series in Australia in 2018-19 and then winning another in 2020-21. Also, India registered a whitewash by 5-0 in T20I series in New Zealand, won all seven Test series at home, climbed to no.1 Test in ICC rankings and reached the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in 2021 during Shastri's tenure.
