BCCI rejects Dravid's plea for an updated coaching manual

Couple of days after a few BCCI officials expressed dissent over the board’s decision to nominate Rahul Dravid for the prestigious Dronacharya Award, the Indian cricket’s parent body has now rejected Dravid’s plan for an updated coaching manual and decided to carry forward with the old one.

Couple of days after a few BCCI officials expressed dissent over the board’s decision to nominate Rahul Dravid for the prestigious Dronacharya Award, the Indian cricket’s parent body has now rejected Dravid’s plan for an updated coaching manual and decided to carry forward with the old one.

According to a report in TOI, BCCI is planning to restart a programme to train lower-level coaches, which was put on hold for three years after Dravid termed the manual as ‘outdated’.

Dravid, who is currently the coach of India U-19 and India ‘A’ teams, had advised BCCI to scrap the old manual used to train junior level coaches in the National Cricket Academy (NCA) three years ago.

“Dravid had recommended upgrading the manual even before he was officially made the coach of the junior teams. Now, his first idea has been shelved,” a BCCI member said.

But it appears, the board has paid no heed to Dravid’s recommendations as it went forward with the old manual. The reason for that is the board’s failure to come up an upgraded manual.

The Indian cricket board had given the responsibility to draft a new model to a private firm, which incidentally also prepares the domestic calendar. The firm, it appears, failed to come up with the manual, forcing the board to fall back to its old method.

BCCI follows a process of creating a pool of coaches, who later on help build the structure for junior cricket in the country. However, there were reports of lack of transparency in the entire process being conducted in the NCA, prompting the likes of Dravid to demand its scrapping.

“There have been allegations of bias since NCA officials aren’t individually short listing candidates,” a source said.

However, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) has been assured of transparency this time around. The Level A exams for the coaches were conducted in February-March.