Outgoing Indian men's team head coach Rahul Dravid has opened up on the call from skipper Rohit Sharma which allowed him to stay on his job after the ODI World Cup 2023 final loss to Australia.
Dravid stayed till the 2024 T20 World Cup after his contract as head coach expired in November 2023. In his final dressing room speech after the Men in Blue won the T20 World Cup on Saturday, he specially thanked Rohit Sharma.
"I just like to say, Ro, thank you very much for making that call to me in November and asking me to continue. I think it's been such a privilege and a pleasure to work with each and every one of you and every one of you, but also to know Ro. Thanks for the time."
"I know as a captain and a coach, there's a lot of times we have to chat. We have to discuss. We have to agree. We have to disagree at times, but thank you so very much. It's been brilliant to get to know each and every one of you as a person," said Dravid.
Meanwhile, India will soon announce their new head coach before the tour of Sri Lanka where they are scheduled to play three T20Is and as many ODIs.
On the T20I tour of Zimbabwe, BCCI has sent VVS Laxman as head coach. India’s squad for the five-match T20I series doesn’t have a lot of experience with Shubman Gill being named skipper.
The series will begin on July 6 and conclude on July 14 with all five games set to be held at the Harare Sports Club.
India's squad for 1st & 2nd T20I:
Shubman Gill (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande, Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Harshit Rana