Dravid passionate about colts

NEW DELHI, July 1
Rahul Dravid has chosen to serve India over his IPL franchise, Delhi Daredevils. The former captain has decided to continue as the head coach of India A and Under-19 teams for the next two years, meaning that he would forego his role as the Daredevils’ mentor.
Dravid’s previous contract as the India and Under-19 coach ran for 10 months, and he was associated with Delhi Daredevils for the remaining two months. But his new contract with the Indian cricket board (BCCI) will run for two full-year terms (12 months each year).
The development is seen as BCCI conforming to the recommendations of the Lodha Committee, which
suggested complete 12-month terms for Indian cricket teams’ coaching and support staff personnel. This was to avoid the conflict of interest situations arising out of the coach or support staff working with the national team for 10 months and mentoring an IPL franchise in the remaining two months. In fact, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) had also been pressing for a two-year contract for the coaches and support staff.
Recently, CoA member Ramachandra Guha, in his scathing resignation letter to the committee, had raised Dravid’s conflict of interest issue. This had led to Dravid approaching both BCCI and CoA to clarify on the subject since Guha’s letter had raised questions over his integrity. Dravid’s tenure as coach had ended on March 31 this year. BCCI didn’t call for fresh interviews as planned earlier since it chose to invoke a clause in Dravid’s previous contract which allowed an automatic extension of his contract.
Lower income?
Would Dravid agree to take a pay cut? Dravid, as coach of India A and Under-19 teams, was drawing Rs 2.5 yearly crore from BCCI, according to a Board office-bearer. Delhi Daredevils was reportedly paying him close to Rs 4.5 crore for his two months’ role. This roughly translated to an income of Rs 7 crore a year. For accepting a two-year BCCI-exclusive contract, Dravid should be compensated by around Rs 14 crore. But is BCCI ready to pay him that much as part of its compensation plan to make up for his IPL salary loss?
According to a BCCI source, Dravid had a lengthy meeting with BCCI CEO Rahul Johri in Mumbai last week, discussing his contract and pay. It has been learnt that Dravid, driven by his passion to coach India colts, didn’t quote any eyebrow-raising amount and agreed to work for a “respectable and sustainable figure”.
“He didn’t ask for too much, nothing substantial. It would obviously be well below what he was getting earlier from BCCI and Daredevils. Since it’s a 24-month contract, it could be somewhere close to Rs 10 crore, but it’s all confidential,” the source added.
Ripple effect
Another BCCI office-bearer informed that the other members of the senior team’s support staff, who are in the West Indies for a limited-overs series, would have to follow the same path when their contracts come up for discussion.
These include batting coach Sanjay Bangar, fielding coach R Sridhar, physiotherapist Patrick Farhat, trainer Shankar Basu and massage therapist Arun Kanade — all are involved with various IPL franchises in some capacity or the other. Similarly, India Under-19 bowling coach Paras Mhambrey is part of the Mumbai Indians set-up.
“Once they are back, there will be discussions about their future. It would be conveyed to them that they have to choose between the Indian team and IPL franchises. CoA is in no mood to offer any leeway on this front. We believe they would let go their IPL roles as BCCI is ready to compensate them for their salary loss,” the office-bearer added.
Dravid, who was first appointed as coach in 2015, had a fruitful stint with the India juniors. In his first assignment as coach, India A won the triangular series in Australia which also had South Africa as the third team. He was successful with the Under-19 team as well, guiding it to the final of the World Cup in 2016.
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