The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is in a proactive mode in the World Cup year and has already initiated planning for the 50-over tournament to be held later this year. The January 1 review meeting laid the foundation for the road ahead and now the focus is likely to shift towards the head coach. Current coach Rahul Dravid’s contract is till the 2023 World Cup and should he not consider an extension. Has reliably learned that the Indian cricket board is looking at VVS Laxman, Head of Cricket at the NCA.

The 48-year-old, who was also in the mix when Dravid was appointed coach in November 2021. Is on top of the list and has already been on coaching assignments with the Indian team in Dravid’s absence. He was with the team for the 2022 edition of the Asia Cup when Dravid was down with COVID-19. Has also travelled for various bilateral series in the past. He had argued earlier why the regular state-fed model of selection is not enough for T20. Why need of the hour is to ditch the archaic approach to selection and take a leaf out of IPL playbook.

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If not Dravid, well VVS Laxman could be next coach for Indian side

The franchise model of selection which primarily focusses on scouting, extensive camps and simulation-based trials. There’s very little coaching which is required at the T20 level and it’s more about having a person who can align the troops in the right direction – the man-manager kind of role which Ravi Shastri played to perfection during his tenure as head coach of the Indian cricket team. Ever since taking over from Shastri, Dravid has had an indifferent run as coach of the Indian cricket team.

The next two years are packed for India men’s team and feature a potential World Test Championship final. 2023 ODI World Cup and then 2024 T20 World Cup. In a course correction effort, the issues of player availability, workload management and fitness parameters were discussed at length during the BCCI review meeting along with the roadmap to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.