Should Rahul Dravid have travelled with the Indian team to Australia?
After becoming BCCI president last year, former captain Sourav Ganguly had stressed the need for better coordination between the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and the India team. He had also said head coach Ravi Shastri needed to become more involved at the NCA during his tenure with the team.
It has been more than a year since then, and nothing has really changed at the NCA. Yes, there have been a couple of meetings with its head Rahul Dravid, and a few plans have been chalked out for the road ahead, but nothing beyond that.
If you go by Ganguly’s logic of involving head coach Shastri at the NCA, the reverse must also hold true. Dravid needs to be involved with the national team during both home and away tours, and even more so at a time when there is practically no work pressure at the NCA.
So why then has the former No. 3 batsman been so dissociated from the team?
The BCCI was forced to discontinue the services of several coaches and other staff members at the NCA during the pandemic due to lack of work. But Rahul Dravid has been immune to that, and the board is still paying him over Rs. 5 crore annually.
But has Dravid really been so indispensable at the NCA during this period? A few cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha and Hardik Pandya have been at the NCA for rehabilitation, but you don't need a Dravid to be physically present to help them get back on track.
Of course, Rahul Dravid is the head of the academy and is responsible for greater coordination amongst all the cricket teams that come under the ambit of the BCCI. But there isn’t enough staff strength right now to help Dravid restart the machinery; that would have to wait until the time BCCI comes out with a clear mandate on the NCA.
In such a scenario, wouldn't it have made sense for the board to send Rahul Dravid to Australia?
Dravid probably doesn't want to undermine the existing coaching staff who are already with the team. Perhaps the team doesn’t need Dravid in Australia either. Still, his presence in the nets would have certainly helped the team morale, and that is something Ganguly should have recognized.
It is true that this is the same Sourav Ganguly who had insisted on Rahul Dravid becoming the batting consultant for Team India after Shastri was made the head coach post Anil Kumble’s ouster. The Committee of Administrators (CoA) had also approached Dravid for the role of head coach, but he was more inclined to serve junior cricket and help create a pool of players for the national team.
Perhaps Rahul Dravid’s intentions are still the same, and that is why he isn't as involved with the senior team. But it would have been nice to see him working with Virat Kohli and Co.