Rahul Dravid is in high demand. After reports of him contemplating a return to Rajasthan Royals as their head coach, Dravid has now been linked with a possible move to England as the ECB mulls candidates to take over proceedings of their ODI and T20I sides. Brendon McCullum as coach has more than revolutionised England's red-ball cricket, with Bazball sparking an upswing and revival in their Test fortunes. But while their Test cricket is flourishing, England's white-ball cricket is lagging. They were one of the first few teams eliminated from the race to the 2023 World Cup semifinals before losing to India in the 2024 T20 World Cup semifinal.

As former coach Matthew Mott tendered his resignation from the post, the hunt for their next coach is on. In between, there was some chatter of Andrew Flintoff coming on board took, but it didn't come to any fruition. Until ECB knuckle down on the next coach, Marcus Trescothick, the assistant coach will serve as the interim coach of the side. In order to fast track the search, former England World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan has shortlisted a few candidates, including Dravid, whom he believes are right for the job.

"You got to remember, it's the England cricket team, it's one of the most resourced cricket teams in the world, so it is up to Rob [Key] to make that role as attractive as possible. So you then go to the best coaches or highly regarded coaches in the world and say 'Well, this is a job that you want to do as opposed to having to second guess it,'" Morgan told Sky Sports.

"In my eyes, at the moment, you would go to Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming, and Brendon McCullum. I say McCullum because I believe he is one of the best coaches in the world."

Dravid's impressive India coaching resume

Interestingly enough, Ponting and Fleming were reportedly among the contenders for the India head coach position, which became vacant after David stepped down following the World Cup triumph in June. Ultimately, Gautam Gambhir was appointed to the role. However, the BCCI clarified that neither Ponting nor Fleming had been approached for the position.

That Dravid's coaching stint finished on a high should not mask the fact that his overall record as coach was rather very impressive. Under him, the team reached the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup, regarded by many as arguably India's greatest World Cup campaign of all time as they ran down 10 oppositions in a row. It was a travesty that India lost the final, but it doesn't take the sheen off what they had achieved collectively as a unit over the course of those two months. At home, a 2-1 Test series win over Australia proved crucial in India making it to a second straight World Test Championship final, where they unfortunately, lost again.

India also drew a Test series in South Africa – the first time since 2011 – made it to the semi-final of the 2022 T20 World Cup and won the 2023 Asia Cup. Under Dravid, India also beat England to register a come-from-behind win before the T20 World Cup was conquered. In between, reports also emerged of Dravid's potential link-up with Kolkata Knight Riders as a straight swap for Gambhir, but nothing concrete is yet to come of it.

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