Rahul Dravid was BCCI’s first choice ahead of Ravi Shastri to oversee Indian ODI team

Dravid had turned down the offer due to personal and professional commitments.

Aug 21, 2014

Former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid was supposedly Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) preferred choice ahead of Ravi Shastri to oversee the Indian One-Day International (ODI) team in England. Though Dravid didn’t accept it, it’s likely that he will be part of the Indian team’s support staff from the home series against West Indies.

An Indian Express report states that Dravid was requested by the BCCI to take over the position of team mentor. However, due to personal and professional commitments the former Indian skipper had to turn down the request.

“Dravid is attached to the Rajasthan Royals for the upcoming Champions League. However, we have big plans for Rahul. We want him to be the permanent mentor of the Indian team. He understands these players like nobody else and the players respect him also. We will ask him to take up the role during the home series against West Indies and also when the team travels to Australia for the Test series,” an official from the board was quoted as saying in the report.

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It’s reported that Dravid is likely to join the Indian team for the West Indies series and will be keen to extend the association till the ICC World Cup 2015.

With the new appointments and the possible inclusion of Rahul Dravid in the team’s support staff, head coach Duncan Fletcher’s role could be highly undermined. The day Shastri was appointed as Team Director, a BCCI official was quoted as saying that the board won’t stop Fletcher if he resigns. Fletcher’s contract with the team is till the end of World Cup.

“Fletcher himself has to decide what his future will be. He is a professional and we are paying him a good amount. So it is natural to expect big results from him. We don’t doubt his cricketing knowledge but we need someone who can also communicate well with the boys and also motivate them to become mentally tougher. We have options when it comes to appointing new coaching staff. Enough feelers have been sent to Fletcher in the last meeting and the BCCI will be expecting him to resign after England tour,” the official added.

Complete coverage of India’s tour of England 2014

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