Rahul Dravid is on his first coaching assignment with the Shikhar Dhawan-led team that will play the white-ball series in Sri Lanka. Dravid, who is presently head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, has traveled to Sri Lanka with his team.
Dravid has excellent coaching expertise and has been a part of the U-19 team. He also coached Prithvi Shaw's India U-19 team to a win in the 2019 World Cup in New Zealand.
Witnessing his extraordinary coaching potential, former Indian cricketer WV Raman has backed Dravid to become the full-time head coach soon. Raman added that he will be surprised if Dravid is not made coach in the near future
“I won't get into a timeframe, but that is likely to happen, maybe in the near future. I can't predict when it will happen since I don't have a crystal ball, but it will happen when Dravid is ready. In fact, there has been a lot of discussion during the previous four to five years. It will happen when he feels ready to go on the journey,” said Raman.
India has been a force to be reckoned with across formats under Shastri, winning many bilateral series as well as the Asia Cup in 2018. However, under his guidance, the team has failed to win a major ICC championship. Shastri's term will expire after this year's T20 World Cup in the UAE, and he may be replaced by Dravid, who is widely expected to be the next head coach.
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Further praising Dravid, Raman claimed that the latter can work and mould cricketers better if he gets a longer tenure than a month-long tour.
“He can make them aware of their talent. And he may also assist them in making the best use of their talent. He's already worked with the majority of these youngsters for three or four years. However, if he is there with them regularly for a period of two years, it will be simpler to make adjustments since both the players and he will stay together and devise a plan or a routine on how to progress. So a lot relies on how long a coach has worked with the players,” said Raman.
Describing Rahul Dravid as 'calm' in nature, WV Raman said that his presence will reassure the players in the hard times.
Raman will be the part of Tamil commentary team for the India -Sri Lanka series. Besides Dravid, he also shared his views on Dhawan. “In Shikhar's case, it's a matter of retaining his competitive edge while waiting and observing how things play out. Unlike others, Shikhar has to be a little more patient and try to make the best of these matches and put the ball in the selectors’ court,” Raman explained.