Duncan Fletcher must go, appoint Rahul Dravid as coach: Sunil Gavaskar to NDTV

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has suggested Test legend Rahul Dravid should be Team India's next coach and called Duncan Fletcher, the current man in the job, an England and Wales Cricket Board 'reject' and hopelessly 'out-of-form'. In an exclusive interview to NDTV on Monday, Gavaskar slammed Fletcher for non-performance and criticized his lackadaisical approach that is reflecting on the team.

An angry Gavaskar had slammed Fletcher immediately after the Asia Cup was over on Saturday. Hauling the Zimbabwean up for non-performance, Gavaskar wrote in his newspaper column that Fletcher was a massive disappointment. A look at the team's record under Fletcher clearly exposes the discrepancies in the side -- India have won 12 and lost 12 of the 30 Tests they have played under Fletcher since April 2011. The inconsistency is clear in the ODIs as well, with the team wining 45 and losing 29 out of 80 matches played under Fletcher. (Angry Gavaskar wants BCCI to sack coach)

"If players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh can be dropped for lack of form and performance, why not the support staff?" Gavaskar said, adding that Fletcher did very little for Indian cricket ever since replacing Gary Kirsten after the 2011 World Cup. "What has Fletcher done? He has done nothing for Test cricket or One-day cricket. I think that makes a huge difference," said Gavaskar.

Fletcher, interestingly, earned a horribly poor rating from Gavaskar, who called him an "ECB reject" and "much inferior to Indian coaches who have done a good job with the team before." "I would rate Fletcher 1.5 on 10 at best. Why persist with an out-of-form coach?" said Gavaskar.

When asked who would be an ideal replacement for Fletcher, Gavaskar said, "I think the first name that comes to my mind is Rahul Dravid because he is enormously respected. He has been one of India's most successful skippers -- he doesn't get much credit for that because his was a shorter reign."

"A younger person is needed because a younger person will have the intensity and will want to prove that he has the coaching credentials. We tried Fletcher for a year, year and a half, two years and nothing worked. Now is the time for us to take a hard call," Gavaskar added.

Gavaskar also said that it does not matter whether the coach of the Indian team is a foreigner or someone from the country itself as long as he can be an asset for the youngsters in the team.

"For me it does not matter whether it is an Indian or an overseas player. I'm saying just bring a younger man, slightly younger man. You don't want somebody who has been with the Indian team for three-four years."

Is the BCCI listening?