Rahul Dravid is Team India's new Head Coach

Former India captain Rahul Dravid appointed for two years, till the 2023 50-overs' World Cup in India.

Former India captain Rahul Dravid was unanimously appointed Head Coach of Team India’s senior men’s team by the Cricket Advisory Committee, comprising Ms Sulakshana Naik and R P Singh, on Wednesday.

He will take charge from the upcoming home series against New Zealand.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India had invited applications for the said position on October 26 to appoint Ravi Shastri’s successor, whose term ends after the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup.

“The Board congratulates Mr Shastri (former Team Director & Head Coach), Mr B Arun (Bowling Coach), Mr R. Sridhar (Fielding Coach) and Mr Vikram Rathour (Batting Coach) on a successful tenure.

“Under Shastri, the Indian Cricket Team adopted a bold and fearless approach and performed creditably both in home and away conditions. India climbed to the top position in the Test format and made it to the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in England,” read a statement from the BCCI.

The 47-year-old Dravid, who is India's second highest run-getter in Tests behind Sachin Tendulkar with 13,288 runs in 164 matches and 36 hundreds along with nearly 11,000 ODI runs (10,889 runs) in 344 ODIs, said it is "an absolute honour" to be appointed as the new Head Coach of the Indian cricket team and he is "really looking forward to this role".

"Under Mr Shastri, the team has done very well, and I hope to work with the team to take this forward.

"Having worked closely with most of the boys either at NCA, U19 and India A setup, I know they have the passion and desire to improve every day. There are some marquee multi-team events in the next two years, and I look forward to working with the players and the support staff to achieve our potential,” added Dravid.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, welcomed the appointment.

“Rahul has had an illustrious playing career and is one of the greats of the game. He has also served Indian cricket as Head of National Cricket Academy (NCA) with distinction. Rahul’s effort at the NCA has nurtured several young cricketing talents who have gone on to represent the country at the international stage.

"I am hopeful that his new stint will take Indian cricket to new heights,” said Ganguly.

Honorary BCCI secretary Jay Shah said: “There is no better person than Rahul Dravid and I am delighted to see him being appointed as the Head Coach of the Indian cricket team.

“With two World Cups scheduled to take place in the next two years, it is important to have a seamless transition, and the former India captain is the right man for the job.

"Having provided the much-needed direction to NCA and overseen the progression of the boys at India Under-19 and India A level, we believe this is also a natural progression for him as a coach.

"I have no doubt that under him the Indian team will dominate in all formats. The Board will soon make appointments of other coaching staff, who will support the Head Coach in jointly achieving our targets.”

Paras Mhambrey is the front-runner to take up the bowling coach's post while Abhay Sharma and Ajay Ratra might face tough competition from legendary South African Jonty Rhodes for the fielding coach's position.

"Obviously, we could have straightaway appointed Rahul but the constitution warranted that we follow the procedures. Therefore RP and Sulakshana had an interview with Rahul. Madan Lal, as he is above 70, is no longer a part of the committee.

"There was no other application as everyone got the drift that Rahul's application meant that there was no chance for anyone else," a senior BCCI source told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

India became the first Asian team to win a Test series in Australia (2018-19) and followed it up with another series win in 2020-21.

India was also the first team to win all five T20Is in a bilateral series when it blanked New Zealand 5-0.

Under Shastri and his team’s guidance, India won all their seven Test series at home.