Former India batsman WV Raman believes it’s only a matter of time before the great Rahul Dravid is considered for the post of India’s head coach on a full-time basis.
Raman’s comments came as Dravid oversees the Indian team on their limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka. With full-time head coach Ravi Shastri and his support staff currently in England for their Test assignment with the regular side, the BCCI asked Dravid and a team of NCA coaches to look after the alternative squad in the Island nation.
Not just Raman, many other prominent voices in Indian cricket have been calling for Dravid’s elevation to the head coach’s post. The legendary Indian batsman, who retired in March 2012, had been the coach of India’s U-19 and ‘A’ teams until 2019, when he was promoted to an even more wholesome job as the NCA Director of Cricket.
Dravid has been playing a pivotal behind-the-scenes role in the progress of Indian cricket in the last four-five years, with many of the promising youngsters part of the mix groomed under his guidance and mentorship.
“It (Dravid becoming a full-time coach) is likely to happen. There is no saying as to when it will, but I will be surprised if it doesn’t happen sometime in the (near) future,”
Raman told the Times of India.
Raman also had a word of healthy advice for India’s stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan, who has been handed a huge vote of confidence by the selection committee amid what is an indifferent period in his career.
A left-hander with an amazing body of work across multiple ICC events, Dhawan has still had people questioning his game and place in the white-ball team for quite some time now.
Raman said it would be vital for Dhawan to maintain his calm and patience to get the best out of his talented but inexperienced squad and himself.
“In case of Shikhar, it is a case of retaining his competitive edge, waiting and watching as to how things pan out,”
“Unlike others, Shikhar needs to be a bit more patient and needs to try and ensure that he makes the best possible use of these matches and put the ball in the selectors’ court.”
he said.
