Mumbai, First Published Dec 18, 2021, 8:31 PM IST
Kolkata: BCCI President Sourav Ganguly was instrumental in appointing Rahul Dravid as India’s successor to Ravi Shastri’s successor following the T20 World Cup. Ganguly and BCCI secretary Jay Shah were among those who persuaded Dravid, who was reluctant to take over as the senior team coach, as he did not want to leave his family. With the series against New Zealand, Dravid started the new innings for the Indian coach.
But when Dravid was reluctant to take over as coach, Sourav Ganguly revealed that another former Indian cricketer was desperate to become an Indian coach. VVS Laxman, who was the mainstay of the Indian innings with Dravid at the crease for years. Ganguly spoke openly about Laxman’s desire on a talk show with Boria Majumdar.
Laxman aspired to be the coach of the senior team. But we could not implement it. We hope he gets a chance to do that in the future. Because Jaishah and I have long wanted to bring Dravid to the coaching position. But we worked hard to convince him of that.
Dravid was reluctant to leave the family and children with the Indian team for 8-9 months. “But it was up to us to convince him,” Ganguly said. Dravid, who captained the National Cricket Academy for four years, was previously the coach of the Under-19 team and the India A team.
Earlier, it was reported that Laxman was initially unwilling to take over the chairmanship of the National Cricket Academy as Dravid did. This was because he had to leave his family and elderly parents in Hyderabad and move to Bengaluru. But Laxman eventually succumbed to Ganguly’s insistence.
Last Updated Dec 18, 2021, 8:31 PM IST
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