Rahul Dravid declines to join BCCI's advisory panel, courts controversy

Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman were appointed to the BCCI advisory committee to rousing applause. But one notable absence has caused widespread speculation. Rahul Dravid reportedly declined to join the advisory committee because of his other commitments.

But rumour has it that Dravid refused the offer because of Ganguly.

“It seems he (Dravid) isn’t comfortable working with Sourav. That’s why his name isn’t on the list,” a BCCI official said to the Hindustan Times .

Other officials were quoted as saying that Dravid’s decision was expected. “A cricketer like him wouldn’t want to be involved in a battle of egos,” he said. But the TOI reported that nobody in the BCCI top brass wanted to divulge any details on the exact reason.

The board has been talking about setting up the advisory committee since Jagmohan Dalmiya and Anurag Thakur took over as BCCI president and secretary respectively in March this year. Earlier reports mentioned Ganguly, Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid as the three men the board wanted.

One other possible reason that Dravid turned down according to Cricket Next the offer to be a BCCI advisor is due to his job with Rajasthan Royals. He reportedly wants to avoid any conflict of interest.

However an Indian Express report published in April says that a section of BCCI wants Rahul Dravid to join the race for India’s new coach and guide the young team, considering he has done such a great job developing young cricketers as Rajasthan Royals mentor.

Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly have not had the easiest of relationships. Last year during Sachin Tendulkar’s book release, Ganguly was quoted as saying that Dravid knew about Greg Chappell’s plans to remove him and make Tendulkar skipper again and admitting to not being able to control the coach.

“I haven’t really read the excerpts of that book. Also I am not privy to any private conversation between two individuals. I have not heard about this before and I have no idea what happened and I would not want to make any comment,” Dravid commented to the press during the rehashing of the controversy surrounding the 2007 World Cup.

According to the Times of India, certain sections of the board have ‘other plans’ for Dravid, details of which they will reveal later.