India U23 side will not be coached by Rahul Dravid at ACC Emerging Trophy

The coach of India A and U19 Rahul Dravid will not be in charge of the India U23 squad that will participate in the Asian Cricket Council’s Emerging Trophy to be hosted in Bangladesh from March 25 to April 5. April and May are the months when any support staff – be it trainer, physio or coach are free to offer their professional expertise to IPL franchises and other sporting entities.

The IPL starts on April 5 and BCCI has excused all IPL players from the Emerging Players Trophy. The ACC tournament has provision to play four senior international players for the Test playing nation but with the cash-rich IPL knocking at the door, BCCI cannot released the top two ladders of India players, all of whom have IPL contracts as well.

According to sources in the BCCI, the coaches at National Cricket Academy, WV Raman or Narendra Hirwani will be in-charge of the team during the limited-overs tournament which will span across 10 days.

“The Emerging team falls under NCA purview. Dravid is unlikely to go for this Dhaka meet. We have our NCA coaches and from among them we will select the coach for the India U-23 team,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.

Only those domestic performers who do not have IPL contracts have been selected for the tournament. Baba Aparajith will lead the side despite a modest domestic season while brother Indrajith, missed the bus even though he has 600 plus runs in the longer version.

The tournament features most of the players who did well during the group league stage of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. The likes of Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant have not been chosen for the tournament because they would all be with their respective IPL sides. Surya Kumar Yadav was the captain when Emerging Trophy was held the last time, and India won the tournament.

India U23 squad:

Squad: Abhimanyu Eswaran, Prithvi Shaw, Shubham Gill, Baba Aparajith (C), Hanuma Vihari, Virat Singh, Shivam Chowdhary, Ankush Bains (vice captain/wicketkeeper), Rahul Chahar, Mayank Dagar, Amir Gani, Aswin Crist, KR Sashikanth, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kanishk Seth.