We Had Rahul Dravid In Mind For A Long Period Of Time: Sourav Ganguly 

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly revealed how he insisted Rahul Dravid take up India’s head coach role.

Dravid replaced Ravi Shastri for the role just after the T20 World Cup, where India finished third in Group 2. The team made a comeback against the Black Caps 3-0 in the three-match T20I series.

We had Rahul Dravid in mind for a long period of time: Sourav Ganguly 

Ganguly said that initially, Dravid was reluctant to take up the head coach position of the Indian team because of staying away from his family.

“We had Rahul in mind for a long period of time, both me and Jay [Shah, BCCI secretary], but he wasn’t agreeing because of the time away from home [and] because doing a national team’s job is [about being] on the road for about 8-9 months in a year and he has two young children,” Ganguly said in an interview with Boria Majumdar on the show ‘Backstage with Boria’.

“At one stage we gave up, he was appointed as the head of NCA (National Cricket Academy, Bengaluru) to look after it and take things forward. We had done all the interviews and everything, his interview and application, and he was appointed at the NCA. But even after he was appointed, we still kept insisting,” he added.

I spoke to Rahul Dravid personally many times: Sourav Ganguly

After plenty of discussions between the board and the former Indian captain, Dravid’s appointment was finalised until the 2023 World Cup.

“And when we spoke to the players also [about] what sort of person they want, you could clearly see that, you know, there was an inclination to Rahul so we communicated that to him. I spoke to him personally many times [saying] that, ‘I know it’s hard but give it a try for two years, and if you find it too hard then we’ll see another way,” Ganguly mentioned.

“Luckily he agreed and I don’t know what triggered the change in his mind but he agreed and I think this is the best BCCI could have done in terms of coaching once Ravi [Shastri] left,” he added.

India is currently playing New Zealand in the second Test at the Wankhede and just need five more wickets to wrap the game as well as the series.

Also Read: Watch: Virat Kohli And Rahul Dravid Walk To The New Zealand Dugout To Congratulate Ajaz Patel After Stumps On Day 2