Twitterati wants Rahul Dravid to replace Ravi Shastri as Team India’s coach

The clamour seeking ouster of Team India’s head coach Ravi Shastri was already growing. Now, it has been accompanied by a strong demand for roping in former Indian captain and currently U19 and A team coach Rahul Dravid as the new head coach of the national team. This has transpired after India suffered one of their worst overseas defeats at Lord’s on August 12 and conceded a 0-2 lead to England in the ongoing Test series.

India were thumped by an innings and 159 runs by a formidable English bowling in the second Test after they fell 31 runs short of victory in the first match at Edgbaston. Sensing that there is little this Indian team can do to recover now in the series that they are on the verge of losing, the fans have gone after Shastri’s head, accusing him of doing nothing substantial other than “giving looks”.

Twitter was abuzz with a demand to make Dravid the next coach. The legend was appointed the batting coach for overseas tours but the former ace batsman made it clear that he would not be available to travel with the senior team since he has heavy commitments for the India ‘A’ and U19 teams. His role was subsequently changed from coach to consultant.

Dravid has registered quite a bit of success as the coach of the Indian colts’ teams, including the U19 World Cup 2018 win in New Zealand. It is also under his tutelage that India ‘A’ defeated Sri Lanka ‘A’ in a two-match unofficial Test series at home. However, his commitments for the junior teams have not stopped the fans from taking his name as their preferred coach for the national side.

Dravid has succeeded in England both as captain and batsman

He had done well in England both as a captain and a batsman. He is only the third Indian captain to win a Test series on English soil in the history, after Ajit Wadekar in 1971 and Kapil Dev in 1986. Dravid led India to a win in the three-Test series in 2007.

As a batsman, too, he has an enviable record having amassed 1,376 runs in 13 Test matches in England at an average of 68.80. He made his debut there in 1996 with a 95 and on his last tour of that country as a 38-year-old in 2011, Dravid was jointly chosen as the man of the series with Stuart Broad for scoring 461 runs. He scored six Test centuries in England.

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