'He’s a stalwart of Indian cricket' : Rohit Sharma welcomes Rahul Dravid's appointment as India coach

India opener Rohit Sharma is pleased to have Rahul Dravid as the new head coach of team India. The former India batter was announced India's head coach by BCCI on Wednesday (November 3). He will replace incumbent head coach Ravi Shastri after the culmination of the 20-20 World Cup.

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Dravid comes with plenty of coaching experience behind him, having previously coached India U-19 and A teams. He has also served as the director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Dravid had coached the senior team on the Sri Lanka tour as well. At the time, he had said that he has not thought about taking up a full-time role owing to the big commitments it requires. However, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly might have convinced him to take up the role.

Rohit Sharma welcomed the move and said it would be nice working with a stalwart like Dravid. “Yeah, is it official? Obliviously, we were playing the game, so I had no idea. Congratulations to him for coming back but in a different capacity in the Indian team. We look forward to working with him. He’s a stalwart of Indian cricket, and it’ll be nice working with him in the future,” said Rohit during a virtual post-match press conference.

Dravid was appointed as the head coach by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Sulakshana Naik and RP Singh on Wednesday (November 3). The upcoming New Zealand tour of India will be Dravid’s first assignment with the team. The 48-year-old is thrilled to be on board and is looking to take the team forward.

“It is an absolute honor to be appointed as the new head coach of the Indian Cricket Team and I am really looking forward to this role. Under Shastri, the team has done very well, and I hope to work with the team to take this forward,” said Dravid in a statement released by BCCI.