Rahul Dravid‘s contract as a coach of India ‘A’ and Under-19 has been extended and he is all set to continue for two more years. This decision was taken by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) whose members are Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. All the three members have played with Dravid for a long time and know him in-and-out.
Rather than organising interviews for the post, like in the case of Kumble, it was decided that there would be no open interviews. This was because Dravid’s contract allowed him to continue his term or that he can be given extension while there was no such statement in Kumble’s contract. Kumble, for now has been given a one-tour extension, and is still holding the post till the next coach is selected.
A BCCI ofiicial informed,“In Dravid’s contract, there is a line which states the BCCI can give extension to him. Whereas in (Anil) Kumble’s contract there is no clause of extension. That is why process (to call me applicants) was followed in Kumble’s case.”
In the earlier contract, Dravid was appointed as the coach for 10 months and was paid a little more than four crores for this term, but now for the new term of 2 years, a new salary would be provided.
Dravid was not a part of the selection process of U-19 cricketers even after the request of Indian cricket board to avoid attracting any possible controversy over his presence. The team was selected on June 16, but Dravid felt he should not be part of the process as his term wasn’t extended, which meant he was not the coach at that time.
The India under 19 team is scheduled to travel to England next month to play a short series.