Former captain and junior India coach Rahul Dravid was on Monday named the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement.
"Dravid will oversee all cricket related activities at NCA and will be involved in mentoring, coaching, training and motivating players, coaches and support staff at the NCA.
"Dravid will also work closely with the national men's and women's head coaches and other cricket coaches for the developmental teams, including India A, India U-19 and India U-23 teams, in the identification of key training and development objectives.
"He will also be responsible for monitoring progress against these objectives for the developmental teams and provide necessary inputs on the same to the senior men's and women's head coaches," the BCCI statement said.
Dravid, who was roped in on a two-year contract, will not able to travel with India A and U-19 teams now.
Former India pacer Paras Mhambrey and Abhay Sharma remained part of the junior team support staff.
He coached the India’s U-19 men’s side which lifted the World Cup trophy in 2018, beating Australia by eight wickets in the final.
Dravid represented India in 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and one T20I between 1996 and 2012.
Congratulating Dravid, cricketer Suresh Raina wrote, “A strong foundation & a solid wall make a firm structure & who could do it better then “the wall” himself! Congratulation #RahulDravid bhai on being appointed as Head Cricket of NCA. I can foresee many positive outcomes! wish you all the success!”
A strong foundation & a solid wall make a firm structure & who could do it better then “the wall” himself! Congratulation #RahulDravid bhai on being appointed as Head Cricket of NCA. I can foresee many positive outcomes! wish you all the success! https://t.co/RmVtzeTRVI
— Suresh Raina(@ImRaina) July 8, 2019
The ICC also tweeted about Dravid being appointed head of the academy.
He helped India's U-19 side to @cricketworldcup glory in 2018, and now Rahul Dravid is set to continue developing the talents of tomorrow as head of cricket at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. pic.twitter.com/TIYE0KDgYL
— ICC (@ICC) July 8, 2019