All eyes on Rahul Dravid

After Rahul Dravid’s contract, which is now good till the 2023 ODI World Cup, expires, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may think about appointing V.V.S. Laxman as the team’s next head coach. According to a News18 Cricketnext reprot, Laxman, who is now the Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, might take over as head coach of the men’s squad if Dravid decides against seeking an extension. In Dravid’s absence, Laxman, 48, has taken over as the Indian team’s head coach. He travelled with the group for the brief tour of Zimbabwe, the bilateral series against Ireland in June 2022, and the inaugural T20I match against England. When Dravid was ill with Covid-19 at the T20 Asia Cup in the UAE in 2022, he was also with the Indian squad. He also travelled to New Zealand as the team’s head coach for their white-ball tour just after the T20 World Cup concluded in November 2022.Laxman not only worked at the NCA to develop the future generation of athletes, but he also travelled with the India U-19 squad to the successful 2022 World Cup and took a highly active part in the young group’s performance there. The report also stated that split coaching will not be used right away. When asked about the likelihood of split coaching being implemented, a top BCCI official was reported as replying, “Has that happened in Indian cricket before?” in the report.Dravid has had a lacklustre tenure as the head coach of the Indian side since succeeding Ravi Shastri in November 2021. With the exception of losing the Test and ODI series in South Africa and rescheduling the fifth Test against England at Birmingham, they didn’t make it to the final of the 2022 T20 Asia Cup and lost to England in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.