Rahul Dravid or Ravi Shastri – who will replace Fletcher?

Zee Media Bureau/Chaitan Papnai

New Delhi: Former Indian skipper, Rahul Dravid, is among one of the top contenders to replace under-fire Indian head coach Duncan Fletcher, according to media reports. After the humiliating 1-3 defeat in the five-match long Test series against England, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has given enough signals to Fletcher that now it`s time for him to handover his resignation. The Indian cricket board reacted strongly after the fifth and final Test, which India lost by an innings and 244 runs within three days. BCCI appointed former Indian skipper Ravi Shastri as the Director of the Indian cricket team for the rest of their England sojourn, in which Indians will play five-match ODI series and a lone T20 match. "Duncan has no powers left whatsoever. Ravi will be calling the shots and Duncan knows it only too well. At this point of time, with no choice of support staff, Duncan will have to take a back seat. If Duncan wants to leave before the next home series against West Indies, the Board will not stop him," a senior BCCI office-bearer told PTI on condition of anonymity. When the official was asked if Fletcher has indicated about quitting, he said, "The BCCI has sent him enough feelers that he is not required!" Sports pundits are speculating that either Shastri or Dravid will take over the reins of Indian cricket. Interestingly, `the wall` Dravid mentored Team India, for a brief time, before the five-match Test series started against England. The advantage with `Mr dependable` is that he knows most of the current Indian players closely and has even shared the dressing room with some of them. The former India number three is a respectful figure too among Indian cricketers. Indian batsmen who generally struggle to perform outside the sub-continent and fail to deal with the extra bit of pace and steep bounce, might get some handful tips from the right hander, who scored plenty of runs during overseas tours. So, it would be interesting to see whether the former opener (Shastri) will take over the reins of Indian team or it would be the former one-down batsman (Dravid), who will replace Fletcher.