Mumbai: After weeks of speculation over former India cricketer Rahul Dravid’s possibility to become India head coach for the Sri Lanka tour, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly put an end to all the speculations by confirming the same. The BCCI chief has made it official that Dravid will be coaching the Indian team for the limited-overs series in July.
“Rahul Dravid will be the coach for the India tour to Sri Lanka,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. Ganguly also spoke about the issue of tax exemptions for the ICC T20 World Cup, and a final decision on hosting it in India or UAE will be taken soon. “We have written to the Indian government on tax exemption. We are waiting for their response. We still have time. The board will take a decision on it soon,” Ganguly said.
Dravid, who is the current head of NCA, has previously coached the Indian U-19 and A teams. He was also Team India’s batting consultant during the 2014 England tour. Dravid has been one of the main reasons behind India’s batting strength, which has been lauded by cricket experts across the globe.
This is the first time in the history of cricket, two different Indian teams will be playing in two different parts of the world. India are slated to play three ODIs and three T20Is in Sri Lanka in July. Regular captain Virat Kohli will be busy leading the side in the five-match Test series against England. Whereas Shikhar Dhawan will lead the Indian limited-overs side between July 13-27 in Sri Lanka.
India’s squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya
