Rahul Dravid wrote his name in the history book, as under his coaching, India went on to end their ICC trophy drought and won the T20 World Cup 2024. With that, Dravid’s tenure also got over, and he stepped down from the position of India’s head coach with a glory.
The team also gave him what could be the best possible gift on his farewell. Rahul Dravid joined the Indian team as head coach after the T20 World Cup 2021, when Ravi Shastri stepped down from this role.
With Rahul Dravid, India achieved new heights and played the finals of three ICC events across all three formats. India lost the finals of the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup against Australia but won the T20 World Cup final. It was a memorable tenure for him with Team India.
South Africa Test Series defeat was the lowest point as head coach – Rahul Dravid
India saw many ups and downs during Dravid’s tenure as head coach. According to the former head coach, he feels the Test series defeat in South Africa in 2022 was the lowest point in his coaching career with India. In a discussion on ESPN Cricinfo, the former Indian captain talked about his coaching stint with Team India.
He said, “If you ask me what is the lowest point, I would say the South Africa Test series early on in my career.” It was South Africa tour in 2021-22, where Virat Kohli was sacked from ODIs, and then he stepped down from Test captaincy as well.
It was a three-match Test series, and India won the opening Test by 113 runs in Centurion. It gave hope that India would be registering their maiden Test series win in South Africa. But the Proteas won the next two games by 6 wickets each in Johannesburg and Cape Town to win the series 2-1.
Rahul Dravid states that despite having decent scores to defend in both games, they lost, which hurt the most that they lost in spite of having an uppar hand. Dravid’s tenure ended after the ODI World Cup 2923, but the BCCI requested him to extend it for six months until the T20 World Cup 2024.
Now, his tenure is complete, so he will look at some new assignments. As per some reports, Dravid is all set to join Rajasthan Royals for the IPL 2025. Kumar Sangakkara is likely to leave the franchise as he might join the England Cricket Team, so Rahul Dravid might replace him at RR.
Also Read: Ravi Ashwin terms RTM Card an unfair rule; explains how it affects player’s value at IPL auction
