Dravid declines to coach India due to ‘time constraints’

PTI
MUMBAI, MARCH 14

CRICKET legend Sunil Gavaskar wants Rahul Dravid to take up the highly challenging job of India coach but the former captain is not ready as yet to assume the mantle from under-fire incumbent Duncan Fletcher because of “time constraints”.
“I am happy that he (Gavaskar) said I am capable of doing the job. But the job requires a lot of time, almost 11 months a year. I have just retired and at the moment because of time constraints, I have to decline (the suggestion),” said Dravid at a promotional event on Friday.
“For me, Duncan Fletcher would get 1.5 in a scale of 10 as far as his success is concerned. I believe a younger guy should be appointed as the coach of the Indian team,” Gavaskar had told a TV channel a few days ago.
“Rahul Dravid is one man who is enormously respected and was a successful captain, having won series in West Indies and England. When he speaks, the Indian players, some of whom are superstars, listen to him as they know how much preparation went into his game,” Gavaskar added.
Dravid, however, did not totally rule out the possibility of taking up the job in future.
“I am going to perform a different role (mentor) for Rajasthan Royals this year in IPL. Who knows what lies in store in the future,” said the 41-year-old former batsman who amassed over 24,000 runs from 164 Tests and 344 ODIs before retiring last year.
Dravid expected the Cricket Board to continue with the current support staff comprising Zimbabwean Fletcher, bowling and fielding coaches Joe Dawes and Trevor Penney, respectively, at least till the end of the next World Cup in March 2015.
“With the World Cup less than a year away I don’t think there would be any changes in the support staff of the team. Ideally, they should be given a four-year period to change things. There is no point of changing the leadership ahead of the World Cup,” said Dravid.

BCCI stands by under-fire coach Duncan Fletcher

Agencies
MUMBAI, MARCH 14

THE BCCI stood by under-fire coach Duncan Fletcher following a meeting in Chennai on Friday. Coming out of the meeting, BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said: “It was a routine meeting and we support Fletcher whole-heartedly.”
The meeting was originally supposed to take place in Mumbai but had to be shifted to Chennai because president N Srinivasan underwent a cataract operation recently.
Patel denied giving any ultimatum to Fletcher, whose contract comes up for renewal in April. In fact, in the meeting Fletcher had requested BCCI to add a trainer to the support-staff.
While the Indian team left for Bangladesh for the T20 World Cup on Friday, Fletcher, along with the other coaches Joe Dawes and Trevor Penny will join them in Dhaka on Saturday. Fletcher has faced a lot of criticism of late for India’s poor performance with Sunil Gavaskar saying that India needs a younger coach who has more fresh ideas to offer.