Dravid wants to rope Vikram Rathour but may lead to conflict on interest

After a scintillating performance against England Lions, the head coach of India A Rahul Dravid has written a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to expand its coaching staff eyeing the upcoming challenges. He has requested BCCI to rope former India opener Vikram Rathour and Haryana wicket-keeper Vijay Yadav on board. Dravid, on expanding the coaching staff believes that it will help in workload management.

However, Vikram Rathour’s name made it to the headlines and sparked controversy. In lieu of this, the acting secretary of BCCI Amitabh Choudhary passed a note of dissent and believes that having Vikram in the mix will lead to a conflict of interest as Rathour is the brother-in-law of former India offspinner Aashish Kapoor, the chairman of India's junior selection committee. 

In a mail, assessed by Espncricinfo, Dravid said, "With regards to our discussion and plans for short- and medium-terms for India A and Under-19 teams in the pathways programme I do feel that with the upcoming amount of cricket for both these teams it would be beneficial to bring in more support/coaching staff into the system."

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Dravid told Karim, BCCI’s general manager (Cricket Operations) that expanding the coaching staff will eventually help him, Paras Mhambrey, and Abhay Sharma to shift their focus to the upcoming Under-19 World Cup. He further believes, seeing the dynamics of the coming schedule it’s the hour requirement to have both suggested name on board. 

"In addition to Vikram Rathour, I would also say we bring in Vijay Yadav to be a part of the coaching staff during the Quadrangular Under-19 series next month. He has been part of the NCA and also Under-19 and India A teams in the recent past."

Karim, along with BCCI CEO Rahul Johri, agreed to bring Rathour and Yadav on board subject to the approval of the Committee of Administrators (CoA), the supervisory authority of the BCCI until fresh elections are conducted. Karim also checked with Rathour for his willingness while asking him to disclose any conflict of interest. Rathour understood his work but went onto accept his relation with Kapoor.

With Amitabh denying Rathour’s name eyeing to conflict of interest, the final decision hasn’t been made yet.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Dravid wants to expand the coaching staff eyeing the upcoming World Cup.
• The next edition of Under-19 World Cup will be played in South Africa in January 2020. 
• Vikram Rathour has scored over 11,000 runs in first-class cricket.