Rahul Dravid turned down chance to be Team India head coach, reveals ex-CoA chief Vinod Rai

Rahul Dravid was one of the top contenders to be the head coach of the Indian cricket team in 2017 but he refused to accept, Vinod Rai, the former chief of Committee of Administrators (CoA) has revealed.

Speaking to Sportskeeda, Rai said the former India captain had decided to give more time to his family instead of taking up the job with the Men in Blue.

Mentioning that Dravid was very “upfront” with his decision, Rai added that the batsman had said, “Look I have two boys growing up at home and I have been travelling with the Indian team all over the world and I am not able to give time and attention to them, I think I must stay at home also. And give time to my family.”

His argument seemed very reasonable to the members of the CoA. “I think that was a very fair request even though he would have been uppermost on mind and he was very much in the zone of consideration,” Rai added.

The CoA was formed in 2017 and governed the Indian cricket board till October 2019. Dravid’s name was in the fray for the head coach’s role as Anil Kumble had resigned in 2017 after his much-publicised differences with skipper Virat Kohli.

At the time of this conversation, Dravid was the coach of the Under-19 and India-A men’s cricket teams. Rai also said that Dravid wanted to carry forward with the younger team and did not wish to leave them in the middle.

“He was engaged with the Under-19 team and he was involved with them. He had developed a roadmap on how to develop a team. He was bringing out fantastic results. He wanted to continue because he felt that there were some unfinished task with that team and he wanted to do it,” Rai said.

File image of Rahul Dravid. AFP

Dravid took up the role of head coach at the National Cricket Academy last year. Rai said Dravid was “very gracious” in having accepted the post.