National Cricket Academy director Rahul Dravid is poised to get an additional responsibility as the coach of the Indian national cricket team. He is reportedly expected to step in as the Head Coach of the Indian team for the upcoming limited overs series in Sri Lanka.
The Wall of the Team India batting in the last decade of 1900s and first decade of 2000s, Dravid is currently shaping the future of Indian cricket as the Director of Cricket Operations at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
Since Indian two teams will be travelling concurrently to England for Tests and Sri Lanka for limited overs series, Head coach Ravi Shastri will be occupied with the Virat Kohli-led Test team in the UK. According to ESPNCricinfo, the NCA staff will get the task to manage the limited overs side in the Emerald Island as well as the national women’s team which will also be in England for an international series.
Former India medium pacer Parasa Mhambrey, who has been the coach of the India A and Under-19 teams, is likely to join Dravid as the bowling coach for the One Day and T20 International series in Sri Lanka in July.
An Indian limited overs team is scheduled to tour Sri Lanka for three ODIs and as many T20Is from July 13 to 27. It will be for the first time in the last one decade or so that the Men in Blue will be without both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
The ODIs in Sri Lanka are proposed for July 13, 16 and 19 and the T20Is on July 22, 24 and 27. The Indian contingent is scheduled to reach the Emerald Island on July 5.
If all goes well India will be travelling to Sri Lanka after three years, since playing the Nidahas Trophy T20 series there in 2018.
Sri Lanka has witnessed a surge in Covid-19 cases in the past one month. The daily cases have gone up from 168 on April 17 to 3,623 on May 19. The threat from the pandemic on the proposed tour cannot be fully ruled out at this stage.
