Rahul Dravid: Change in the middle of a tour is tough on everyone

Dravid says the Indian team will benefit from Shastri’s positive personality and experience

Rahul Dravid, the former Indian captain, feels that it would have been better if the change in support staff was made after the end of India’s tour of England because such a decision in the middle of a tour was tough on everyone.

Need clarity

Dravid while speaking to ESPN Cricinfo said that there was a lack of clarity on whether these are long-term appointments or the changes are only for the one-day series.

"You don't have problems if people want to make changes, it’s part of professional sport.But there's still not a lot of clarity on whether this is a long term appointment or the changes we have seen are for this series, so there's a bit of confusion around that.

"Sometimes from a players' perspective that can be quite hard. I hope that's something Ravi Shastri will handle quite well. All these players also build relationships with support staff and as players you do recognise that at some level you are actually responsible for your own success and failure," he said.

On the new support staff

Ravi Shastri was named the director of the team, with Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun and R Sridhar named assistant coaches for the 5 ODI series and 1 T20 against England.

There have been rumours about Duncan Fletcher’s role, whether he would continue as the head coach is yet to be seen. On the other hand, bowling coach Joe Dawes and fielding coach Trevor Penney were asked to go on a leave during the one-day series.

Popularly known as The Wall, Dravid believes that it would be up to Duncan Fletcher to decide whether it would be comfortable for him to get along in the new environment around him and have to report to an authority at the ground.

The cricketer-turned-commentator has worked along with both Fletcher and Shastri and is confident that they would be able to work together keeping in mind the best interest of the team.

"Knowing the kind of people that they are, they would not want to ensure that the players see that there is an issue between them. Like Ravi says, Duncan will still be the head coach, he will still be running the team meetings and be involved in the selection of the playing eleven. So I hope there is no issue," the 41-year-old said.

As the new staff prepares to take over, Dravid praised Dawes and Penny for their support to the team, sympathising with them saying that they did their jobs "very professionally and tried to do the best they can”.

Ravi Shastri’s positive outlook to benefit team

Dravid believes that IPL has given more exposure to Indian coaches and nationality should never be a criteria to select the right person for the job. With the appointment of an Indian support staff, it could be the sign of things to come where more national coaches would be given priority by BCCI.

When asked about Shastri’s new role as director, Dravid opined that the former Indian all-rounders positive personality and experience as a player could turn around things for the team.

"I thought Ravi was very good in the time that he was there with the team. He's obviously got a lot of experience that he has to offer as a player. By personality he's a very positive, outgoing, upbeat kind of person, which can really help the team. His personality can help a lot of the younger players because they do respect him and what he's done for the game." the Bangalorean added.