Former India skipper Rahul Dravid on Tuesday officially applied for the position of the head coach of India senior men’s team while former India batsman VVS Laxman has shown interest to take over as the National Cricket Academy (NCA) Chief.
Notably, the postition of NCA Chief will fall vacant as soon as Dravid is formally announced the head coach of Team India and today was the last date to apply for the post of the head coach.
Althought Dravid is all set to take over the job of head coach of Team India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on October 17 had issued invitation for the position of the head coach of the Indian senior men’s team along with the batting, bowling and fielding coach.
Meanwhile, the invitation also include the vacancy for the Head Sports Science/Medicine of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Although, Dravid is all set to take over as the next head coach of the Indian cricket team after the ongoing T20 World Cup, it has been learnt that the BCCI issued the advertisement for the post to ensure that due process is followed.
The deadline for the submission for applying for the post of head coach was set at 5 PM on October 26 (Tuesday) while for the remaining four posts it has been fixed as November 3.
The BCCI statement said that the remuneration for the post of head coach will be “negotiable and will be commensurated with experience” and the period of contract will be of two years.
The statement said that some of the key accountabilities for the head coach post will be that he will be responsible for developing a world class Indian cricket team which delivers sustained success in all conditions and formats, inspiring current and future generations of cricketers and stakeholders with their approach to the game.
Earlier after some initial reluctance, 48-year-old Dravid had agreed to the BCCI’s offer of coaching the Indian team. Reportedly, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah had held a meeting with Dravid and persuaded him to take up the role.
Earlier this year, Dravid had served as the head coach of the Indian team during the tour of Sri Lanka.
As per the the board’s invitation, Dravid will have a two-year contract as India’s head coach and the contract will end after the ICC World Cup in 2023.
Dravid’s first assignment as the full-time head coach will be the home series against New Zealand, which is scheduled to begin less than a week after the final of the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Team India is scheduled to play three T20Is matches on November 17, 19 and 21 at Jaipur, Ranchi and Kolkata respectively against the Kiwis.
The T20I series will be followed by two Tests, starting November 25 in Kanpur and December 3 in Mumbai respectively.
After the home series against the Kiwis, the Indian team will tour South Africa for three Tests, as many One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and four T20Is.
Meanwhile, former India pacer Paras Mhambrey is likely to be the appointed as the next bowling coach.