The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has approached Rahul Dravid to extend his tenure as the head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team and have already started proccedings regarding acquiring his visas for South Africa.
According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, BCCI had offered Rahul Dravid an extension though it does not confirm if he has accepted.
If Dravid accepts the extension to his contract, his first assignment will be India’s tour of South Africa. India will be playing three T20Is and three ODIs from December 10, followed by two Tests.
The report also adds that Dravid will continue with the same set of assistant coaches – Vikram Rathour as batting coach, Paras Mhambrey as bowling coach and T Dilip as fielding coach.
“The BCCI secretary Jay Shah has had discussions with Dravid during last week. Obviously, the fine prints of the new contract are yet to be worked out. But BCCI wants Dravid to go to South Africa with the Test team,” a senior BCCI office-bearer told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
“The contract will be worked out but the Test series is important and even if he doesn’t go for the T20I series in SA, he can join (the team) from the ODIs,” the source added.
In a report in Cricbuzz, BCCI is also readying travel paprers for VVS Laxman and his coaching team. An India A side is also expected to travel to South Africa in December.
“Laxman’s hands are full with the NCA work plus there’s another U19 World Cup coming up. There’s A team tour to South Africa. He is also involved in cricketing matters with regards to construction of a new NCA facility which is at full swing,” the source told PTI.
After the tour of South Africa, India face England in a five-Test series in February-March, with the England Lions side touring the country in Juanuary.
India will be playing the T20 World Cup in June at home.
Rahul Dravid had replaced Ravi Shastri for a two-year term after the T20 World Cup in 2021. Dravod’s term ended with the conclusion of the ICC Cricket World Cup, in the final of which India lost to Australia.
India had lost to to Australia in the World Test Championship finalb back in June and lost to England in the semi-final of the 2022 T20 World Cup under Dravid.
After the end of the ODI World Cupo at home, Dravid came out to face the media himself.
There he was asked about his future, in regard to his role as the Indai coach.
He had said: “I haven’t thought about it. I have no time to think about this, and no time to reflect on this. 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.”
It would be interesting to see the nature of Dravid’s tenure extension, whether it will be for a year keeping the next T20 World Cup in mind or till 2025 which covers the entire on-going WTC cycle and the Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan for now.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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