A look at Rahul Dravid's coaching achievements as he sets to become India's head coach

Rahul Dravid will be succeeding Ravi Shastri as the head coach of the Indian cricket team after the end of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Ravi Shastri would be stepping down from the position after the conclusion of the showpiece event.

As Rahul Dravid looks forward to becoming the next head coach of Team India, here's a look at a few of his notable achievements as a coach.

Rahul Dravid's stint as India's U-19 head coach

Rahul Dravid was appointed the head coach of India U-19 in 2016. He delivered quickly as India finished on top in two back-to-back editions of the ICC U-19 World Cups held in 2016 and 2018 respectively. India had a dream run in the 2016 edition that was played in Bangladesh as they marched to the finals. However, they went down to a spirited West Indies team in a high-voltage summit clash. Wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan captained the Indian side.

Two years later, a new bunch of emerging youngsters of the India U-19 team led by Prithvi Shaw steamrolled all the teams and enjoyed an unbeaten run in the tournament hosted in New Zealand. In the end, the Boys In Blue overcame Australia in a one-sided finale to win their record fourth ICC U-19 World Cup title. 

Rahul Dravid India A head coach

Rahul Dravid has also made multiple tours with the India-A side from 2016 to 2019.  During India A's away tours to  England and New Zealand in the 2018/19 season, and a few of the players succeeded in making it to the senior team. The biggest example of it was Mayank Agarwal who made his Test debut with a bang against Australia at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Rahul Dravid as NCA Chief

After his successful stint with the junior level teams, Rahul Dravid was appointed as the head of cricket at the National Cricket Academy in July 2019, and since then, he has been responsible for the overall development of players who visit the facility in Bangalore to train.

The best part of his tenure as the NCA head is that many budding players were groomed under his guidance which eventually did wonders for the Indian national cricket team's bench strength. This was evident during the 2020/21 Australia series Down Under where Ajinkya Rahane & Co. successfully retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 2-1 win without the availability of their main players who were sidelined.

Rahul Dravid as a makeshift coach for Sri Lanka white-ball series

Rahul Dravid was appointed as the Indian team's makeshift coach for the away limited-overs series against Sri Lanka earlier this year. The full-strength side under regular coach Ravi Shastri was in England for a gruelling three-and-a-half month tour for six Test matches that also included the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand in a one-off Test.