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Former Indian skipper and head coach Rahul Dravid on Thursday expressed optimism that the Indian team will benefit from the vast playing and coaching experience of their new coach Gautam Gambhir.
Dravid was speaking at an event in Delhi organised by Roombr. Dravid was appointed as the Team India head coach in November 2021. Under his coaching stint, Team India finished as runners-up in 2021-2023 ICC World Test Championship and the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup held at home. And then Men in Blue ended their 11-year-long trophy drought by beating South Africa by seven runs to capture their second ICC T20 World Cup title. Answering a media query, Dravid said the team will benefit from what Gautam Gambhi is going to bring to the table. "I think he has got a lot of experience as a player. He has played a lot. He has obviously coached quite a bit. In any situation one brings his own experiences, knowledge to the table. I am sure the team is going to benefit what Gautam is going to bring to the table along with his team," he said. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the appointment of Gambhir as a head coach on July 9, just days after India's T20 World Cup win. Before that, Gambhir had success with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), guiding them to their first Indian Premier League (IPL) title after 2014 and their overall third title with Shreyas Iyer as captain. Dravid will be making a return to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as a head coach ahead of the next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year. The former Royals captain and coach spent five seasons with the franchise from 2011 to 2015 and will commence with the team immediately, working with Royals' Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara to implement the franchise's overall cricketing strategy. From 2011-13 seasons, Dravid played 46 matches for the franchise, scoring 1,276 runs at an average of 29.67, with seven fifties. His best score was 66. The 51-year-old Dravid, who is one of the greatest batters to have represented India, began his coaching career with the Royals back in 2014 when he transitioned from serving as the captain to being the team's mentor. Since then, Dravid has been involved in various capacities with the National Cricket Academy (NCA), the Indian Men's U19, and the Indian Men's Senior team, leading the nation to the top of the Test, ODI, and T20I rankings during his tenure, and topping it up with the ICC Men's T20 World Cup crown recently. (ANI)
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