Three reasons why BCCI extended Rahul Dravid's tenure as India's head coach

BCCI has extended Indian head coach Rahul Dravid’s contract along with his support staff.

After a successful tenure of two years, Rahul Dravid has been given an extension in his job as head coach of the Indian cricket team. The BCCI has decided to retain the support staff under Rahul Dravid. Indian support staff’s tenure ended after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 final against Australia. Rahul Dravid after a discussion with BCCI officials, has finally decided to rejoin the Indian camp as Indian coach and VVS Laxman will remain as the NCA head. Rahul Dravid joined the senior men’s team after the T20 World Cup 2021 loss in UAE. He replaced Ravi Shastri as the head coach of the team. 

Vikram Rathour will remain India’s batting coach, Paras Mhambrey also keeps his job as bowling coach and T. Dilip will serve as fielding coach under Rahul Dravid. Earlier reports came out suggesting that Dravid might not be opting for an extension and looking for an IPL franchise contract as he wanted to reduce travel time and spend more time with his family. VVS Laxman was in line to replace the head coach of the Indian side but BCCI convinced Dravid to continue with the job in hand. There are a few factors that played a big role in BCCI sticking with Dravid and not looking for a new support staff. 

Here we look at three possible reasons why BCCI extended Rahul Dravid’s tenure as India’s head coach:

1. Next big ICC event in just a few months:

With the next ICC event just 6 months away from the day of announcement, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) didn’t want to have a new support staff. India under Rahul Dravid did a terrific job in the ICC World Test Championship 2021-2023 cycle as well and they qualified for the finals of the event in World Cup 2023 they had an unbeaten run till the final against Australia in Ahmedabad. BCCI decided to give Rahul Dravid an extended run looking at the T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the USA. 

2. Plan to continue with the entire WTC cycle:

Team India qualified for the finals of the ICC World Test Championship in the 2021-2023 cycle but they failed to win the title as Australia decimated Team India badly at the Oval. Rahul Dravid has been given an extended run for the ongoing ICC World Test championship cycle 2025. India have already begun their WTC 2023-25 campaign against the West Indies in July this year and the BCCI and the panel did not want to break the continuity in the middle. India played two consecutive finals of the WTC but failed to win on both occasions. New Zealand defeated India in Southampton in 2021 to become the inaugural champions. 

3. Credited for bringing youngsters:

With Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, and Mohammed Shami aging, Rahul Dravid will have a big in his hand. Dravid is credited for bringing in youngsters like Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ravi Bishnoi, and Avesh Khan into the picture, he will need to create a pool of players set to replace these big names in Indian cricket. Team India will enter into a transition period soon and Dravid’s experimental approach may prove a positive point for Team India in upcoming years. India will be looking to build a formidable pool of replacement players. 

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