What’s the story?
Former India captain Rahul Dravid is set to continue as the coach of the India ‘A’ and U-19 teams for the next two years, the BCCI announced through a tweet on Friday.
Dravid’s contract as the coach of the aforementioned teams ended on March 31 this year, and there was a probability that he would be given another term.
It was reported earlier this month that Dravid had agreed to sign a 12-month-deal with the BCCI that is likely to end his stint with the Delhi Daredevils franchise of the IPL.
Talks were on in terms of a negotiation amount that would not jeopardize Dravid’s earnings from the IPL and a decision was likely to be reached upon soon.
In case you didn’t know...
The 43-year-old was immensely successful during his first stint as the coach – being first appointed in 2015 – of the junior men's team, the most noticeable of the team’s performance being India U-19’s journey to the final of the ICC U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2016.
Under Dravid’s tutelage, several young cricketers emerged through the ranks, the popular ones being the U-19 World Cup heroes in Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, and Avesh Khan, as well as ‘A’ team members who graduated to the senior team, like Karun Nair and Manish Pandey.
Details
As opposed to the senior men’s team, where turbulence prevails in terms of the appointment of the next coach, the junior team has been at relative ease. Not only have they seamlessly progressed through the years, but the conversion rate from the junior to the senior team has also been high.
The ‘A’ team won a quadrangular one-day series in Australia in September last year; however, they lost the two-match unofficial Test series 1-0. The U-19 side drew the Youth Test series against England at home and won the five-match Youth ODI series that preceded the Tests 3-1.
The Indian colts also won the Asian Cricket Council U-19 Asia Cup, beating Sri Lanka U-19 in the final at the RPS Stadium, Colombo in December last year.
What’s next?
With this decision made, Dravid's first assignment with the junior teams would be India A tour to South Africa, the squad for which was announced on Thursday.
Prominent IPL performers such as Krunal Pandya, Mohammad Siraj, and Basil Thampi were handed their maiden India ‘A’ call-ups and Karun Nair and Manish Pandey were handed the reigns of the team for the one-off four-day match and the ODI series, respectively.
Author’s take
It is a welcome move indeed, as far as the Indian colts are concerned, as one of the most successful men to have coached them is back at the helm of affairs.
Dravid, who had resorted to the betterment of the junior teams since his retirement from all forms of competitive cricket seems to have enjoyed his first term, and although his stint with the Daredevils has produced mixed results, his India tenure has been unequivocally brilliant.
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