Rahul Dravid has said that a decision relating to becoming full-time India coach would need to be “weighed with lot of consideration” © Getty Images
Former India captain Rahul Dravid has said that he would look at taking up the role of the India coach only if he has the “bandwidth” for the job.
Recent news reports had suggested that the BCCI had approached Dravid for the role of India’s head coach after Ravi Shastri’s stint as India team director ended following the recent World T20. BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur had said that the board would look for a full-time coach, instead of continuing with the team director’s position, and the Cricket Advisory Committee, comprising former India players Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, has been tasked with picking a coach. Dravid has said he would take a decision on the matter after a lot of consideration.
“Any decision that I make at this stage of my life would depend on whether I have the bandwidth to do all of these things,” Dravid told PTI. “It takes time. You can never really say that now you are ready and now you are not. That’s an experience, a learning. You have to do it to only know. Every day you do it and you want to learn.
“Anything that comes back to you needs to be weighed with lot of consideration, not only in terms of whether you feel you want to do it but also time that is involved in doing lot of these things – what does it entail and what does it require, can you devote time and energy, anything that you would want to do, you want to ensure you are completely 100% focused on it.
“It’s not important whether results come or not but can you give that level of commitment and level of time for doing anything like that [coaching India]. Just like in cricket. I mean if I wanted to be really good batsman, I recognised that time, sacrifices and devotion whatever required to get it done and what sacrifices I had to make for it.”
Dravid, who is a currently a mentor for the Delhi Daredevils franchise in IPL 2016, took up the role of a coach with the India A and India Under-19s sides in June last year. During the Under-19 World Cup in February, India had an unbeaten run in the tournament, until the final match, which they lost to West Indies Under-19s.
Dravid had also previously served as a mentor with the Rajasthan Royals franchise, grooming several young players like Sanju Samson, Karun Nair and Deepak Hooda. He also had a short stint as batting consultant of the Indian team ahead of their tour of England in 2014.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo