Rahul Dravid, the head coach of Team India, will not be with the squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against South Africa. The responsibility of the team has been entrusted to Sitanshu Kotak and various members of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) staff. Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid and his coaching team will supervise the three-day inter-squad match in Pretoria from December 20 to 22 in preparation for the Test series beginning on December 26th.
The three-day fixture, serving as the second unofficial Test between India A and South Africa A, may include some Test squad members including the seniors Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravichandran Ashwin who make a return to the team after the WC final to familiarize them with the conditions and format.
Rahul Dravid & staff will oversee the preparations for the inter squad game & Test Series- BCCI
In a statement released on Saturday, BCCI said,
“Team India (Senior Men) head coach Rahul Dravid, batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and fielding coach T. Dilip will link up with the Test squad and oversee their preparations for the inter-squad game and the Test series,”
Rahul Dravid’s topsy-turvy record in South Africa
Dravid’s decision to skip the ODI series underscores the significance of the Test series starting on December 26. Despite coming close in their last two attempts, Team India is yet to secure a Test series victory in South Africa. losing 2-1 on both occasions.
Interestingly, the previous South African tour was Rahul Dravid’s first major Assignment as Indian Coach. The team started well winning the first test but Proteas came back brilliantly by emerging victorious in the next two that too chasing decent totals in the 4th innings.
The Test series against South Africa is a crucial part of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle for the Men in Blue. Following their triumph against the West Indies, India will face three consecutive home series in 2024, beginning with a five-match series against England before the IPL. India will end their WTC cycle with a five-match series down under against Australia.
Kotak to look after the Indian Team during the ODI series
Commencing on December 17, the ODI series will see WK batter KL Rahul captaining the Indian team in the absence of key senior players. Interestingly, the Men in Blue suffered a 3-0 whitewash during their previous tour of South Africa in 2022, with Rahul leading the side on that occasion as well.
“The ODI team will be assisted by India A’s coaching staff comprising batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, bowling coach Rajib Datta, and fielding coach Ajay Ratra,” BCCI said in the release.
The last batch of Indian players left for South Africa on December 15, Mohammed Shami ruled out
While some members from the ODI squad are part of the Test squad, others have been selected exclusively for the red-ball matches, including skipper Rohit Sharma. The final group of players, including Virat Kohli, Ravi Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, and Harshit Rana, are expected to arrive in South Africa on Friday night.
However, Mohammed Shami is notably absent from this group due to an injury, effectively ruling him out of the Test series. Despite this setback, Team India has viable options, with Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, and potentially Shardul Thakur forming the pace unit. Currently, around 75 Indian Players are touring South Africa and one of them will be potentially named as a replacement to Shami.
India also made slight changes to the ODI squad with Deepak Chahar opting out citing personal reasons and Bengal Pacer Akashdeep will replace him. And batter Shreyas Iyer has been removed from the last two ODIs to prepare for the test series.