Sunil Gavaskar has said that Indian cricket will only move “ahead and ahead” after the appointment of Rahul Dravid as the senior men’s team’s new head coach. Rahul Dravid will replace Ravi Shastri in the role after the conclusion of the ongoing T20I World Cup at UAE.
Rahul Dravid’s first assignment will be to lead the team in the upcoming home series against New Zealand. Rahul Dravid will bring his “vast experience” and work ethic to the Indian set-up along with his tactical ideas, former captain Sunil Gavaskar said.
Sunil Gavaskar: Indian Cricket Should Be Going Ahead As Rahul Dravid Will Bring His Vast Experience And Work Ethic
Rahul Dravid, who is widely rated among the greatest batsmen of all time, was named as India’s head coach on Wednesday and is set to replace Ravi Shastri in the role after the end of India’s campaign in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Nothing has been decided on Rahul Dravid’s tenure as India coach. However, the contract will likely be for two years initially and will be up for renewal, as 2023 is a landmark year when India hosts the 50-over World Cup.
“Indian cricket should be going ahead and ahead,” Sunil Gavaskar said when asked which direction Indian cricket will take under Dravid.
“He will bring his vast experience, the work ethic that he embodied when he played the game, the deep thinking about tactics, and so on. You need to have some instinctiveness during matches but you also need to be able to plan and I think this and the win over Afghanistan is probably the best news Indian cricket has had over the last one week or so,” he said.
The announcement was made during India’s T20 World Cup match against Afghanistan on Wednesday. Despite their 66-run win on Wednesday, India is staring at an early exit in the WC after suffering heavy defeats in their first two matches against Pakistan and New Zealand.
Sunil Gavaskar Welcomes Early Move To Appoint Rahul Dravid As Coach Since He Will Get Some Time To Plan Accordingly
Virat Kohli is also set to step down as India’s T20I captain after the tournament. Still, Sunil Gavaskar said that the announcement of Rahul Dravid’s appointment may have been made with at least two games left in the World Cup to give him some time, as opposed to him wanting to be part of the process to appoint the new skipper.
“After this tournament is over you’ve got to have a new coach and the earlier he is appointed, the better it is because he will also get time to plan. And so this move of appointing him today is a very good move because it has given him some time before the tournament finishes.”
“There are still two more matches that India have to play. Right now it is time for Dravid to take stock of the situation after watching the matches and he will then decide what is best for Indian cricket,” said Sunil Gavaskar.
Rahul Dravid is currently the director of the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. He was recently appointed as the interim head coach for the Sri Lanka series, with Ravi Shastri busy with the Test team in England. The new coach has been offered a hefty contract and will be drawing a salary of Rs 10 crore. The amount makes him one of the highest-paid Indian coaches.
Rahul Dravid’s first assignment as Team India coach will be India’s home series against New Zealand, which will start three days after the T20 World Cup ends. This will be the third time when Rahul Dravid will be working with Team India. His first stint came in 2014 when he travelled to England as a batting consultant for the Test series.
In July 2021, he returned as interim head coach for Sri Lankan limited-overs tour as Ravi Shastri-led coaching staff was in England for a Test series. An ICC Hall of Famer, the former batsman, played 164 Tests, 344 ODIs, and 1 T20I in his illustrious career. He has also worked with India A team, Rajasthan Royals, and Delhi Capitals as a coach.