There comes a huge update from BCCI! The board has extended Rahul Dravid’s contract as India’s Head Coach. While the board hasn’t specified the exact duration of Dravid’s extension its likely that Rahul Dravid will function as India’s Head Coach at least until the 2024 T20 World Cup in June.
As per the reports, BCCI approached Dravid informing him that the Board is willing to extend his contract. The reports further suggest that one main reason of BCCI extending Dravid’s contract is to ensure continuity in structure which has been in place for the past two years. This continuity could have been disrupted id new Head Coach was appointed.
Dravid’s second stint of coaching will be India’s tour of South Africa which will begin with the white ball series from December 10. The tour will consist of three t20Is & Odis followed by two Tests in centurion (from December 26) and Cape Town (from January 3). After that there will be five match Test series against England at home before the beginning of T20 World cup in June 2024.
Rahul Dravid replaced Ravi Shastri as India’s Head Coach in 2021
India’s former Coach, Ravi Shastri was replaced by Rahul Dravid after the T20 World Cup 2021. Rahul was appointed as Head Coach for a tenure of two years which ended with ODI World cup 2023 where emerged as runners up. It was the joint best finish for India at ICC events under the guidance of Dravid. Earlier India’s dream of conquering WTC 2021-2023 trophy ended when they had lost to Australia in June in the WTC 2021-2023 final.
Before that India was defeated by England in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022. As Dravid has accepted BCCI’s proposal of continuing the coaching stint he will likely retain the same set of assistant coached with whom he joined hands in 2021. Vikram Rathour (batting coach), Paras Mhambrey (bowling coach), and T Dilip (fielding coach) are the coaches who have been a part of Dravid’s panel.
Rahul Dravid opened up on India’s defeat in ODI World Cup 2023 final
Speaking after the ODI World Cup 2023 defeat Dravid said that he was proud that India is currently ranked at No 1 in all formats. But at the same time the absence of an ICC trophy in their kitty is a huge disappointment for them. When asked that whether he could continue his job, Dravid said that he had not thought about it at the moment as he was busy in World Cup 2023 preparation.
“I haven’t thought about it. I have no time to think about this, and no time to reflect on this,” Dravid had said. “I will when I get the time to do that. But at this point of time, I was completely focused on this campaign. It was focused on this World Cup, and there was nothing else on my mind. And I haven’t given any other thought to what happens in the future.”
There were also reports that Laxman is willing to take up the role of Head Coach of Indian team & is in talks with the BCCI. But ending all the speculations BCCI made its move by announcing their decision of extending Dravid’s coaching stint.
Also read, Cricket WPL 2024: BCCI releases full Retention list of Franchisees
