Delhi: Often termed as the toughest yet the most lucrative job in cricketing circles – the role of the Indian cricket team’s head coach is not an easy road. With an eye to win a major ICC tournament, BCCI had appointed former captain Rahul Dravid as the new head coach of Team India. Dravid, who replaced former head coach Ravi Shastri, at the helm started with a bang and guided India to back-to-back series wins against New Zealand at home. Meanwhile, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly who had earlier revealed that it was tough to convince Dravid to take up the role, shared another name of a former India legend who showed interest in the job.
With not much competition around, the 48-year-old Dravid emerged as the unanimous choice for the role of Team India’s head coach. Later, BCCI President and Secretary Jay Shah convinced Dravid on taking up the prestigious post. “We had Rahul in mind for a long period of time, both me and Jay, 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 told Boria Majumdar recently.
During the interview, Ganguly also revealed the name of India’s former batter – VVS Laxman who showed interest in the head coach role. Laxman, who has not coached a national side before, has served as the mentor of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.
As far as his coaching experience goes, Laxman had also worked as a batting consultant for six years at the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), which had roped him for the ‘Vision 2020’ programme aimed at tapping and promoting grassroot talent in Bengal.
Ganguly believes that the batting legend will get a chance to work with the national team in the future.
“He (Laxman) was keen on the national team job, but that couldn’t be worked out. But somewhere down the line, he would have that opportunity to coach the national team,” Ganguly added.
Meanwhile, Laxman on Monday started his tenure as the director of cricket at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. Last month, the 47-year-old had accepted the BCCI’s offer to take up the job, after his predecessor Dravid had relinquished the position to become the senior India team’s head coach.
