File photo of Rahul Dravid.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

The Indian men’s cricket team is set to get a new head coach, with incumbent Rahul Dravid having informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) about his decision to step down at the end of India’s T20 World Cup campaign in June.

Dravid is understood to have informed the BCCI hierarchy about his decision to spend time with the family even before the IPL began in March. On Monday night, the BCCI officially invited applications for the head coach’s post with May 27 set as the deadline.

Last week, BCCI secretary Jay Shah, while stating that the applications for the head coach will be invited soon, had stressed Dravid “will have to re-apply” if he wants an extension. The statement came as a surprise to many in the know.

The Hindu understands that Dravid — who agreed for an extension after his contract expired at the end of the 2023 World Cup — had clarified well in advance about seeking no further extension due to personal reasons. In fact, a group of seniors in the team had requested him to consider being at the helm of the Test team at least for a year, but Dravid had made up his mind.

Had Dravid agreed, the BCCI may have considered having different coaches for limited-over and Test match set-ups. However, as stated by Shah last week, there will only be one head coach across formats and his appointment will be till the end of 2027.

Contrary to speculation and expectation, V.V.S. Laxman, the head at the National Cricket Academy, too is unlikely to enter the fray.

It may lead to the BCCI being forced to look for an overseas coach in consultation with the senior players. Feelers have been sent to a couple of IPL franchise head coaches, who have been a part of the T20 league for quite some time. So far, none of them have expressed willingness to apply for the post.

: India’s head coach Rahul Dravid during a training session ahead of the fifth Test cricket match between India and England, in Dharamshala, on March 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

With the series done and dusted, it was time for coach Rahul Dravid and England’s skipper Ben Stokes, here on Saturday, to reflect on the five-Test series.

After India’s emphatic innings-and-64-run victory on the third day, Dravid shared his views.

“We dominated this match. We were in control here all the way. But the first four Tests, there were periods when they did put us under a little bit of pressure.”

“There were days, particularly the third day in both Rajkot and in Ranchi, when England had the ascendancy in the morning. The heartening thing for me was how well our experienced players stepped up in those situations. England came here with an experienced batting line-up. Their inexperience was in bowling. Their experience was in the batting and they had the ascendancy with bat in hand at that point of time and we needed to respond. Our experience was in bowling and we won those contests. That was a critical part of the series.”

On his part, Stokes said, “We came here with very high hopes and confidence about what we could achieve.

“It started off very well but obviously losing the series 4-1, not just myself but the team is big enough to say we’ve been completely outplayed in the last four games. “The way I look at it is that the big games and moments, the team who seizes those opportunities and make those moments theirs are the team that are going to come out on top.

Whenever we managed to wrestle back any type of momentum with the ball or bat, India were always able to then put it back on to us.”

“That was where the Tests, after the first one, were won and lost. It’s obviously very disappointing. I don’t give too much away as the series is going on but I’m always man enough to say we got beaten by the better team.”