How Sourav Ganguly convinced Rahul Dravid to take up Team India head coach job

Former India captain Rahul Dravid was apprehensive about taking over as the new Team India coach after Ravi Shastri’s stint with the Indian senior team came to an end after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 last month. It took some push by Dravid’s former teammate and current Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly to finally convince the ‘Wall’.

Ganguly on Sunday (December 5) revealed how he managed to change Dravid’s mind about taking up the India head coach position. “For a long time we had Rahul’s name on our mind. I even had a talk with Jay Shah regarding it. But Rahul paid no heed to us as the job of the coach would force him out of his home for at least 8-10 months. He has two sons at home. So naturally at one point we lost all hope,” Ganguly said in a function.

“We took Rahul’s interview as he was elected as the NCA Head. From the time of his appointment as Head of Cricket, we kept on going after him, hoping to convince him for Team India role,’ the BCCI president added.

pic.twitter.com/uwDCR5971i — BCCI (@BCCI) December 2, 2021

The BCCI president also revealed that he even asked the players in the current team whom they want to see as India head coach. Everyone was in favour of Dravid.

“We even asked the players about who they want to see as the head coach. All of them went in favour Rahul and we even informed him about it. I personally requested him to look into the offer. I told him to try for at least two years and then later on he accepted the offer,” Ganguly revealed.

The former India captain believes the appointment of Dravid has been the best decision taken in terms of coaching after Shastri’s departure.