- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
SOURAV Ganguly, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Sunday (14) confirmed former India batter VVS Laxman will be taking charge as the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Speaking to Asian News International over whether Laxman will take over as the head of the academy, Ganguly said, “yes”. Ganguly, who led India in the past and under whom Laxman had made his epic Test knock of 281 in 2001, has always stressed on the need to have former cricketers in the system to help the game grow. Recently, he worked towards getting another former India captain and his one-time national team colleague Rahul Dravid to become the head coach of the national side.
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Informed sources told ANI that besides Ganguly, BCCI secretary Jay Shah and other senior officials also wanted Laxman to take up the role of the NCA chief as the Indian cricket board over the last few years has seen the NCA work closely with Dravid, who has been its director.
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“Sourav and Jay both would love to have Laxman take up the NCA role. But yes, the final call obviously lies with the former India cricketer as he has a young family also. He is undoubtedly a front runner for the role and not to forget how he has been known to share a special bond with now coach Dravid. It will be the perfect combination to have those two work together towards taking Indian cricket forward. Nothing like having former cricketers coming on board to help produce the next generation of stars,” a source in the BCCI told the news outlet.
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The Hyderabad-born Laxman had recorded a famous partnership with Dravid during his 281-run knock against Australia as the duo put up 376 runs to help India win the game despite following on.
Laxman, 47, has played 134 Tests and 86 one-day internationals for India, scoring more than 11,000 runs with 23 international hundreds.
Dravid recently said that he is looking forward to building on the base that has been put in place by Ravi Shastri, who stepped down following India’s exit from the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
“It is an absolute honour to be appointed as the new head coach of the Indian cricket team and I am really looking forward to this role. Under 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,” he said.
Dravid’s first assignment as the head coach will be the upcoming home series against New Zealand which will feature three T20 internationals and two Tests. Rohit Sharma will lead India in the T20Is while Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli will captain the side in the two Tests, respectively.
