Dravid says no to coaching job at the moment

Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar wants Rahul Dravid to take up the highly challenging job of India coach but the former captain is not yet ready to assume the mantle from under-fire incumbent Duncan Fletcher because of “time constraints”.

“I am happy that he (Gavaskar) said I am capable of doing the job. But the job requires a lot of time, almost 11 months a year. I have just retired and at the moment because of time constraints, I have to decline (the suggestion),” said Dravid at a promotional event here on Friday.

“For me, Duncan Fletcher would get 1.5 on a scale of 10 as far as his success is concerned. I believe a younger guy should be appointed as the coach of the Indian team,” Gavaskar had told a TV channel a few days ago. “Rahul Dravid is one man who is enormously respected and was a successful captain, having won series in West Indies and England. When he speaks, the Indian players, some of whom are superstars, listen to him as they know how much preparation went into his game,” Gavaskar added.

Dravid, however, did not totally rule out the possibility of taking up the job in future. “I am going to perform a different role (mentor) for Rajasthan Royals this year in IPL. Who knows what lies in store in the future,” said the 41-year-old former batsman who amassed over 24,000 runs from 164 Tests and 344 ODIs before retiring last year.
Dravid expected the BCCI to continue with the current support staff comprising Fletcher, bowling and fielding coaches Joe Dawes and Trevor Penney, respectively, at least till the end of the next World Cup in March 2015.

“With the World Cup less than a year away I don’t think there would be any changes in the support staff of the team. Ideally, they should be given a four-year period to change things. There is no point of changing the leadership ahead of the World Cup,” said Dravid.

“Sometimes the role of the coach is overrated. The responsibility should always lie with the senior group of players and the captain. The team is defined by what the senior players bring to the party. “The coach can help to play in the right environment, right condition. You can’t judge coaches always on results. Someone who coaches Bangladesh is not necessarily going to win a lot of games,” said Dravid. “It’s a professional world. It does not matter where the coach is from. The best man should get the job irrespective of his nationality. We have had Indian coaches at various roles involved with the cricket team in the past. Over a long period we had people like Robin (Singh) and (Venkatesh) Prasad who were involved with the team as well.

‘Give Pujara time’

Dravid also backed batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who replaced him at number three in Indian Test team batting order, to come good in the ODIs like he did in his career.
“Speaking from my own personal experience and as someone who was being seen (basically) as a Test player, Pujara can certainly make a mark in one-day cricket. I was able to develop and build my game for one-day cricket, (which) I played successfully for quite a long time. I have no doubt that Pujara has the ability and the skill to do that,” said Dravid.