Rahul Dravid has asked for time, no confirmation on him becoming India's next head coach: Sourav Ganguly

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly on Friday (October 22) confirmed that Rahul Dravid's appointment as the new head coach of the Indian men's cricket team is not imminent yet. Ganguly revealed Dravid has asked for some time to decide whether he wants to replace Ravi Shastri or not and that there is no confirmation on his appointment yet.

Recently reports had stated that Dravid had agreed to become the new head coach of the Indian cricket team and will take over from Shastri, whose contract is set to expire post the conclusion of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE and Oman. However, Ganguly said Dravid, who had earlier said he was not interested in the role, is yet to make his final call.

Dravid is currently the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and is expected to step down from the post if he decides to apply for the India head coach position. Ganguly said the batting legend, who has previously coached the India A and India U-19 teams, will apply if he wants to.

"There is no confirmation (On Dravid becoming coach)," Ganguly was quoted as saying by India Today.

"If he wants to apply, he will apply, the process has to happen. For now, he is the coach of NCA and I believe NCA has a big role to play in Indian cricket. I have spoken to him earlier about this as well and he was not that interested and I feel the situation is still the same. He has asked for some time, let's see what happens," he added.

Recently, reportshad also claimed that former India batter VVS Laxman was offered the role of the NCA head as BCCI has already started looking for a replacement for Dravid. However, Laxman turned down the offer and is likely to continue as the mentor of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL and the batting consultant of Bengal in domestic circuit.

BCCI president Ganguly said it is important to keep former cricketers involved in the development and progression of Indian cricket by utilising their services.

"How many times do you see players like Dravid, (Sachin) Tendulkar, (MS) Dhoni, (VVS) Laxman and Virat Kohli coming up in one country in such a short span. They have to be utilised. Imagine if you don't use Wasim Akram in Pakistan then who will you use? In England, if you don't involve players like Kevin Pietersen or Alastair Cook, who are you going to involve? They have made a place for themselves with their performances and the more these players are involved in Indian cricket, the better it will be for the sport here," explained Ganguly.