Rahul Dravid was named India's new head coach almost a month ago as the former Indian captain replaced Ravi Shastri after the T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman. However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly revealed that there was one more Indian great who had expressed his desire of coaching the Indian team. In conversation with journalist Boria Majumdar, in his show 'Backstage with Boria', Ganguly revealed that it was none other than VVS Laxman. He said, "He was keen on the national team job, but that couldn’t be worked out. But somewhere down the line, he will have that opportunity to coach the national team." Gautam Gambhir Reacts After Being Named Mentor of Lucknow Franchise for IPL 2022, Writes, ‘The Fire To Win Still Burns Bright Inside Me’ (Check Post)
Dravid becoming India's head coach left vacant the position of the head of National Cricket Academy (NCA) which Laxman took up. Ganguly also shared that it was tough to convince Dravid to take up the national team job as the Indian side were constantly on the move and the former Indian skipper was reluctant to spend time away from his family. "We had Rahul in mind for a long period of time, both me and Jay, but he wasn't agreeing because of the time away from home [and] because doing a national team's job is [about being] on the road for about 8-9 months in a year and he has two young children."
Dravid got his India coaching career off to a flying start with a T20I and Test series whitewash over New Zealand. The tour of South Africa would thus be his first international assignment as India would look to better their performance, especially in Tests from 2018.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 18, 2021 09:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).