India should appoint Dravid as head coach, Dhoni as mentor, according to MSK Prasad
MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid (TOI Photo)
Former Indian chief selector MSK Prasad feels Rahul Dravid should be appointed as the head coach and MS Dhoni as the mentor of the Indian cricket team once Ravi Shastri's tenure comes to an end after the T20 World Cup.
Shastri has been India's head coach since 2017 when he was picked for the role by then Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), comprising Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman.
"Rahul as a coach, MS as a mentor is going to be a boon for Indian cricket. Both are cool and calm customers and one person is very studious and hard-working. More importantly, the number of players that are evolving right now have been groomed by Rahul, who was India A coach also. So it is some wonderful planning that is happening. I will be very disappointed if Rahul is not going to be the coach and MS is not a mentor post this management era," Prasad said on Sports Tak.
Shastri had replaced India legend, Anil Kumble, as India's head coach in 2017. In the middle of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced an extension of Shastri's contract by 45 days after the tournament. On Aug. 16, he was re-appointed as the head coach of the Indian team, with his new contract extending up to the 2021 T20 World Cup in India, a tournament that has now been shifted to the UAE and Oman due to the COVID situation.
Dravid recently toured with Team India to Sri Lanka when Shastri was with Virat Kohli and Co in the UK for the five-match Test series against England.
"In my heart, I had this feeling. I was challenged recently by my colleagues that definitely post Ravi bhai's era, MS has to come into the role of a mentor and Rahul Dravid as a coach. These were the discussions I had with my fellow commentators while I was doing commentary during the IPL. I had a feeling that Rahul, being the studious person that he is, will add value to Team India post-Ravi bhai's era," Prasad, who served as India's chief selector between 2016 and 2020, further added.