Rahul Dravid chose coaching India A and U-19 over IPL, says COA Chief Vinod Rai
Vinod Rai, the Chief of Committee of Administrators (COA), has said that it was Rahul Dravid who chose to coach India A and India U-19 over an IPL franchise after he was given a choice to choose between the two.
Rahul Dravid found himself in the conflict of interest row last year when Ramachandra Guha, a former member of Committee of Administrators (COA) questioned him for coaching Delhi Daredevils, India A and India U-19 at the same time. It was a conflict of interest as a player associated with BCCI was also coaching an IPL team. The former Indian skipper asked BCCI for clarification and he chose India A and U-19 team over IPL, quitting his role at Delhi Daredevils. He was later given a full-time contract by BCCI until 2019.
Vinod Rai, head of COA, has now cleared that it was Dravid himself who chose to coach BCCI teams over IPL franchise after he was given a choice to choose between the two. “But Rahul Dravid himself opted out of it. We gave Rahul two options. A) Would you want to be with the IPL; B) A 12-month contract with the BCCI. Rahul said I’ll give my time to the Under-19 team. He gave us a compensation package which was most reasonable for him,” he told The Times of India.
Dravid was associated with Delhi Daredevils in IPL 2016 and 2017 as Mentor. He was replaced by former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting in the role, who took over the job of head coach ahead of IPL 2018. Not just Dravid, other coaches were also forced to choose between IPL and BCCI after the conflict of interest row emerged. This saw Paras Mhambrey, Patrick Farhat, Bharat Arun, Shankar Basu and few others leaving their job at IPL so as to coach BCCI teams.
Venkatesh Prasad, former chief selector of the junior selection committee, quit his job at BCCI to assume the role of bowling coach of IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab. Ravi Shastri, the head coach of Indian cricket team, was also barred from commentating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as coaching and commentating at the same time comes under the conflict of interest row.
“Ankit Vaishnav”
