VVS Laxman to replace Rahul Dravid as India's new coach: Report

With Rahul Dravid’s tenure as India’s head coach ending on Sunday (November 19) with the World Cup 2023 final loss to Australia in Ahmedabad, his close friend and former teammate VVS Laxman is set to take as the national cricket team’s coach.

Dravid was appointed as India’s head coach in November 2021 for a two-year period, till the ODI World Cup 2023. Under his guidance, India became the number one side in both Tests and ODIs. However, an ICC trophy remained elusive.

India have not won an ICC trophy for more than 10 years. The last global silverware came in 2013 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni in the Champions Trophy in England.

According to a report in Times of India, Dravid is not keen to seek an extension from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He could return as the National Cricket Academy’s (NCA) director, his previous role before taking up the national team job.

Laxman is currently the head of NCA, and is the interim coach of the Indian T20I team that will play Australia in a five-match series starting today (November 23) in Visakhapatnam.

The former India batter’s first full-time assignment as India’s coach could be the tour of South Africa starting on December 10, the report said quoting a BCCI source.

“Laxman has expressed his keenness for the job. During the World Cup, Laxman travelled to Ahmedabad to meet the BCCI's top bosses in this regard. He's likely to sign a long-time contract as the Team India coach, and will certainly travel with the team in that capacity for the upcoming tour of South Africa, which will be his first as the full-time India head coach,” a source was quoted as saying in the newspaper report.

“Dravid has communicated to the BCCI that he isn’t keen to continue as a full-time coach. For close to 20 years, he has travelled with the Indian team as a player, and for the past couple of years, he again went through the same grind, which he doesn’t want to undergo. He’s fine with a role at the NCA as the head there (a role he previously served in), which will allow him to stay back in his hometown Bengaluru. Like earlier, he’s fine with coaching the team sporadically, but not again as a full-time coach,” the source added.