Rahul Dravid's Nomination for Dronacharya Award Doesn't Please BCCI Officials

The former Indian skipper, Rahul Dravid’s nomination for the Dronacharya Award, hasn’t gone down well with some of the BCCI officials.

The Indian board office bearers believe the homework done by the coaches at the grass root level got overshadowed.

Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid got nominated for the prestigious Dronacharya award by the CoA. The Wall’s role in promoting the young talent in the country is well known.

Currently, Rahul Dravid is the coach of Under-19 as well as the India A team.

CoA nomination of Rahul Dravid hasn’t gone done well with BCCI officials.

A BCCI official said while talking to Cricket Next,

“When we speak strictly in terms of the Dronacharya Award, even a great player has to compete not on the basis of his performance as a player but solely on the basis of his performance as a coach. Not even as a mentor but as a coach. Each of the players playing in the U-19 World Cup has been coached through their childhood by a coach, at the state level by coaches at the U-14, U-16 and the U-19 levels”.

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“It was on the basis of those performances that those boys even made it to the India U-19 team. Would it be fair to ignore the immense hard-work and contribution put in by those coaches that have culminated in great performances? The key question would be whether the Dronacharya Award is given for coaching the boys or to guide them in a tournament?” the official added

Rahul Dravid has been instrumental in building players at the top level.

Dravid was also instrumental in getting the Under-19 Indian team to World Cup glory recently. The Indian Under-19 remained side unbeaten throughout the whole coveted tournament.

BCCI official believes giving Dronacharya award to Dravid is not justifiable to the childhood coaches of the players who have done well.

BCCI official said,

“The contributions of a Tarak Sinha or AN Sharma or many such others who toil at the grass-root level, to the field of coaching are honestly much greater than that of Dravid at this juncture. Dravid may surpass all of them, but at this point in time, I sincerely feel he has not done enough. It will become clear if you even peruse the criteria for the Dronacharya award”.

“I think the CoA has been unfair to put Dravid’s name in the hat when as per the criteria of the award, he does not qualify. One can understand the love that the CoA may have for the stars of the game, but as administrators, one has to respect the foundation more than the façade,” he explained.

It is well known that Rahul Dravid has played a huge role in instilling the right confidence in many players. But at the same point, the BCCI officials have their point that the contribution of grassroots level coaches is getting overlooked.

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