Vinod Rai made it clear on Saturday that former India captain Rahul Dravid will be unavailable for Team India’s foreign tours. (Source: File)
Chief of the Committee of Administrators (COA) Vinod Rai made it clear on Saturday that former India captain Rahul Dravid will be unavailable for Team India’s foreign tours as he will be busy coaching India A and Under-19 side.
Rai clarified that the committee is trying their best to sort out Zaheer Khan’s contract issues as he is currently associated with the Delhi Daredevils. The BCCI CEO, Rahul Johri said that Zaheer might travel with the Indian team for South Africa tour.
“Dravid’s contract issues are all sorted. He has two-year full-time contract (India A and U-19). He has said that he is not available for tours abroad (senior team). He does not want to hang around,” Rai said after the meeting with BCCI officials.
It is learnt that Dravid will be available if coach Ravi Shastri asks him to be with the team at the National Cricket Academy. Dravid will be busy with the Under-19 World Cup next year and a few India A series.
According to Rai, it will be a tough task to create a balance between Zaheer’s IPL contract and his consultancy role.
“Earlier, there was no system in place. We are trying to set templates. Zaheer is very much in the scheme of coaching various Indian teams but we can only have him after we have a contract in place.
“We can’t just tell Zaheer okay we give you a three month or three-week contract and these are conditions. We have to also look into his IPL contract, media commitments,” Rai explained.
Johri added, “Ravi is in touch with Zaheer. In any case, he will be available not before South Africa series.”
Rai denied all the rumours which said the Cricket Advisory Committee has been insulted during the whole process and believes that BCCI have no trust issues with CAC.
“The remit of the CAC was to appoint a chief coach. The CEO and acting Secretary (Amitabh Chaudhary) were present when the presentations were being made and they zeroed in on Ravi Shastri.
“However, subsequently they (CAC) recommended names of two consultants (Zaheer and Dravid) and both CEO and acting Secretary were not privy, that’s the reason there was a lacuna in the first BCCI press release which stated that they have been ‘appointed’,” Rai said. “They are busy people and their only intention was to give a good coach.”
