The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to appoint a full-time coach for the India team before Men in Blue head over to the West Indies in July. Past and former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Harbhajan Singh and JP Duminy have recently suggested Rahul Dravid as a good option, and now, RCB all-rounder Shane Watson has also joined the chorus.
At present, India does not have a coach, and the team may travel to Zimbabwe next month with an interim coach. The post is lying vacant after Ravi Shastri's contract as Team Director came to an end post World T20 in March.
Watson is confident that Dravid can take India to greater heights if he becomes the national team's coach. After having played under his leadership for a majority of years as a Rajasthan Royals player, Watson understands Dravid's way of functioning and moulding youngsters, which could help Team India.
"At the starting point, there is no doubt about the quality of person Rahul Dravid is. I was very fortunate to know him well while working with him at Rajasthan Royals (first as the captain) and (later as the) mentor and then learning about his cricketing abilities," IANS quoted Watson as saying.
"There is no doubt that he will do an incredible job if he gets the chance to coach India and also with Virat Kohli who is continuing to grow in this IPL as a leader. He is an incredible man. He has an amazing amount of experience to pass on to the youngsters."
Looking at the way the Indian Colts performed in U-19 World Cup under Dravid earlier this year, finishing runners-up in the competition, the youngsters in the team could benefit a huge deal.
The BCCI-appointed advisory committee, which includes Indian greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, has also shown interest in signing up Dravid as the coach, but it remains to be seen if he is keen to take up the job or not.
