Kotak and Mhambrey replace Dravid as India A, Under-19 coaches
Sitanshu Kotak and Paras Mhambrey will operate as the head coaches of India A and India’s Under-19 team after Rahul Dravid left the position. Dravid shall serve as the head of National Cricket Academy while Saurashtra’s former captain Kotak and former Indian pacer Mhambrey shall take the position as the head coaches.
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The move is a part of the internal reshuffle of the staff for juniors. Dravid will be spending more time at the NCA although he can attend India A or U-19 tours whenever he wishes to. A BCCI official informed, “There will be no formal announcements on this as all these people are NCA staff and this is an internal rejigging.”
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The appointments
Kotak, the left-hand opener from Saurashtra, has played around 130 first-class games. He worked as the batting coach of India ‘A’ team that recently won in West Indies. His coaching skills and work ethics have impressed Dravid which has helped the Saurashtra batsman in retaining his role.
Dravid’s appointment as NCA head also allowed Mhambrey to step up as the head coach of the India U-19 team. The former pace bowler played two Tests and three ODIs for India. He was already Dravid’s understudy and he has been the bowling coach for the past three years in the A and U-19 set-up.
Ramesh Powar shall assume Mhambrey’s place as bowling coach of the A team. Powar was earlier the Indian women’s team head coach untill his tenure ended due to a controversy with Mithali Raj.
T Dilip will be the fielding coach of the A team. He was also one of the candidates for the senior team’s fielding coach’s role. While Kotak and Powar’s appointments are on a temporary basis (the series against South Africa ‘A’), Mhambrey and Abhay Sharma will continue as Dravid’s permanent support staff at NCA. They shall also continue as the coaches of the U-19 team for Asia Cup. Hrishikesh Kanitkar will be the batting coach of the U-19 side having worked with the unit during the U-19 tri-series victory in England.
