Vijay Tagore 

MUMBAI: Rahul Dravid has rocked Indian cricket by expressing his desire to step down as captain. He conveyed the decision to the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Sharad Pawar, in a letter that was delivered on Thursday. Dravid, one of India’s most successful captains, said he was no longer enjoying the responsibility and that he wanted to concentrate on his batting.

Dravid communicated his decision to Pawar when the board president visited England recently to watch the 5th ODI at Headingley. He met Pawar again on Thursday during the launch of the Indian Premier League. The board has called a meeting of its selection committee on September 18 to pick the new captain.

The board said that it has accepted Dravid’s resignation. “He wants to continue playing and improve his performance,” Pawar said. “Accepting his resignation is not in my hands as the decision rests with the selection committee, but we should respect his decision. I have forwarded his resignation to the BCCI.”

From the selection committee members to his teammates, no one was aware that Dravid had resolved to resign. The Indian players, now in South Africa for the Twenty20 World Cup, were shocked when bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad broke the news. 

In New Delhi, selection committee chairman Vengsarkar said: “It is news to me.”

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The BBC has quoted Dravid as saying: “I enjoyed the captaincy, I loved it, but it can get tough after a while and some of the enjoyment can go away. So I thought it was the right time to step aside.”

Sources close to the Indian dressing room confirm that Dravid was beginning to feel overburdened by the captaincy. There have also been regular reports suggesting that differences divide the senior players. But sources rubbished the notion:

“All is fine between Rahul, Sachin and Sourav,” said a source who was with the team in the dressing room.

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Meanwhile, the options to find a replacement for Dravid are already being discussed.

According to the sources in the selection committee, it has few choices at its disposal.

Sachin Tendulkar, the senior-most member of the side, who was also the vice-captain during the tour of England, is most likely to succeed Dravid. Tendulkar, DNA has learnt, is not averse to captaincy.

Appointing Dhoni as the captain for ODIs and to grant Test captaincy to Tendulkar is another option that could be explored. Sourav Ganguly, of course, is another candidate but he seems to have few supporters backing him.