Dravid Disappointed at Lack of Opportunities for Indian Coaches in IPL

Lucknow, Nov 28 (PTI) Batting great Rahul Dravid is disappointed at the lack of opportunities for Indian coaches in the IPL and feels the franchises are "missing a trick" by not involving them in their support staff.

According to the former captain and the current National Cricket Academy (NCA) director, most of the Indian coaches were as good as any in the world.

"I believe we've got some very good coaches, a lot of good people. I'm fully confident (in their ability). Just as we have a lot of talent in the cricket department, we have a lot of talent in the coaching department," Dravid was quoted as saying by 'ESPNcricinfo'.

"We need to give them confidence and time to flourish. I'm sure they will do it. It does sometimes disappoint me when a lot of our boys don't get opportunities as assistant coaches in IPL.

"Honestly, there are so many Indian players in the IPL, there's so much of local knowledge (among our coaches). I feel a lot of teams could actually benefit from using a lot of our Indian coaches in the IPL. They know the Indian players better, they understand them better."

Dravid, who was in the city to observe the ongoing one-day series between India Under-19 and Afghanistan Under-19 as part of preparations for the World Cup early next year, hoped for a substantial Indian presence in the IPL support staff in the future.

"I think a lot of IPL teams miss a trick by not using more domestic talent in the coaching area and the talent identification area, even if it is as assistants. That's my personal opinion.

"It's not for me to decide for franchises and head coaches what they do, but I think they miss a trick by not involving more Indian coaches.

"Indian coaches understand and know the system, and they know a lot of Indian players. Every IPL team has at least 17-18 Indian players. It's my personal view, but I would love to see a lot of our boys get the opportunity to be in and around that environment. Hopefully we can work with some teams to try and ensure that."

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