India head coach Rahul Dravid had a happy send-off on Saturday (June 29) after Rohit Sharma’s side won the T20 World Cup having defeated South Africa in the final. The seven-run narrow win was Dravid’s last game with the national side as he lifted the T20 World Cup in Barbados. Dravid, having already announced his desire to leave his role as India’s men’s team coach joins PR Man Singh, Lalchand Rajput and Gary Kirsten to have won a World Cup.
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Dravid bows out on a high
Having seen his contract as India head coach expire after the completion of the ODI World Cup in November 2023, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to extend Dravid’s stay until the 2024 T20 World Cup. The decision proved to be the right one as the former India captain helped the Men in Blue win their second T20 World Cup on Saturday after India beat South Africa by seven runs. Dravid, therefore, goes down as one of the most successful coaches in the history of Indian cricket.
He had initially taken over from Ravi Shastri in November 2021 after the T20 World Cup and had a tough task in hand. During his almost three-year reign as coach, the 51-year-old helped India reach the final of the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC), the ODI World Cup in 2023 and the semifinal of the T20 World Cup in 2022. However, his greatest moment came on Saturday when India ended their 11-year wait for an ICC trophy while also dropping curtains on the 17-year wait for the T20 World Cup.
Putting in numbers, Dravid won 56 T20I matches during his 78-match tenure which started in November 2021 against New Zealand. In the ODIs India won 41 matches from his 56 with success across home and way turf. In Test format, Dravid had an impressive record of 14 wins in 24 matches and lost only seven matches.
For now, the Indian team will enjoy their time with the BCCI likely to announce Gautam Gambhir as the new coach. He is likely to take charge during the Sri Lanka tour where Team India’s new era of transition begins.
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