BCCI appoints Rahul Dravid as Team India head coach, former India captain to begin tenure with NZ home series

New Delhi, Nov 3: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday (November 3) announced appointing former India captain Rahul Dravid as the head coach of the Indian men's senior national side. Dravid - who applied for the role last week - will succeed Ravi Shastri and take charge from the upcoming home series against New Zealand at the end of this month.

"The Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Ms Sulakshana Naik and Mr RP Singh on Wednesday unanimously appointed Mr Rahul Dravid as the Head Coach of Team India (Senior Men). The former India captain will take charge from the upcoming home series against New Zealand," said a BCCI release.

Dravid coached India's limited-overs side on the tour of Sri Lanka in July this year - was BCCI's first choice as a full-time coach. However, the former captain had refused the offer initially as he didn't want to travel too much.

The BCCI had invited applications for the position of India's head coach on October 26 to appoint Ravi Shastri's successor, whose term gets over after the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup. Dravid - who at present heads the National Cricket Academy (NCA) - became the frontrunner for the job soon after he applied.

The tenure of India's bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar also comes to an end after the ongoing T20 World Cup in the UAE and along with Dravid, Team India will also get new support staff.

In its official release, BCCI congratulated Shastri (former Team Director & Head Coach), Bharat Arun (Bowling Coach), R Sridhar (Fielding Coach) and Vikram Rathour (Batting Coach) on a successful tenure.

"Under Mr Shastri, the Indian Cricket Team adopted a bold and fearless approach and performed creditably both in home and away conditions. India climbed to the top position in the Test format and made it to the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in England.

"India became the first Asian team to win a Test series in Australia (2018-19) and followed it with another series win in 2020-21. India were also the first team to win all 5 T20Is in a bilateral series when it blanked New Zealand 5-0. Under Mr Shastri and his team's guidance, India won all their seven Test series at home," said the BCCI release.

Commenting upon Dravid's appointment board president Sourav Ganguly said the former India captain will take the team to new heights. "The BCCI welcomes Rahul Dravid as the Head Coach of India's senior men team. Rahul has had an illustrious playing career and is one of the greats of the game. He has also served Indian cricket as Head of National Cricket Academy (NCA) with distinction. Rahul's effort at the NCA has nurtured several young cricketing talents who have gone on to represent the country at the international stage. I am hopeful that his new stint will take Indian cricket to new heights," Ganguly said.

BCCI honourary secretary Jay Shah said Dravid is the best suited for the job and he's delighted to see him take the office of the head coach.

"There is no better person than Rahul Dravid and I am delighted to see him being appointed as the Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team. With two World Cups scheduled to take place in the next two years, it is important to have a seamless transition, and the former India captain is the right man for the job. Having provided the much-needed direction to NCA and overseen the progression of the boys at India U-19 and India A level, we believe this is also a natural progression for him as a coach. I have no doubt that under him, the Indian team will dominate in all formats. The Board will soon make appointments of other coaching staff, who will support the Head Coach in jointly achieving our targets," said Shah.

On his appointment as the head coach, Dravid said: "It is an absolute honour to be appointed as the new Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team and I am really looking forward to this role. Under Mr Shastri, the team has done very well, and I hope to work with the team to take this forward. Having worked closely with most of the boys either at NCA, U19 and India A setup, I know they have the passion and desire to improve every day. There are some marquee multi-team events in the next two years, and I look forward to working with the players and the support staff to achieve our potential."