Even before the innings victory in the first Test match against the West Indies within three days, the statistics of the team make him a successful coach. In the latest ICC rankings, India is the number one team in Test and Twenty20 cricket. During Dravid's coaching, India has so far won nine matches in 16 Tests, drawn two matches and lost five matches. At the same time, in 24 ODIs, India has won 16 matches and has lost in eight.
India has played 41 Twenty20 matches during this period, winning 29 matches and losing 11. There was no result of one match. The new season of the World Test Championship has just begun with the ongoing series against the West Indies. Obviously, there are not many matches yet to judge Dravid's coaching tenure, yet the day has been fixed to judge Dravid as a coach.
The coincidence is such that on this day Rahul Dravid's current contract will be completed. This day is November 19 and on this day the final of ODI World Cup 2023 will be played. The pair of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid is not only expected to take the team to the finals, they are also expected to win the championship.
After the 2011 World Cup victory, India has captured the Champions Trophy in 2013 and two Asia Cups. Apart from this, the team has managed to reach the finals of the 2014 Twenty20 World Cup, the 2017 Champions Trophy, the Asia Cup once and the finals of both the World Test Championships played so far.
During this, the Indian team could not progress beyond the semi-finals in four consecutive ICC World Cup events, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2022. In such a situation, there will be pressure on the Indian team to win the ODI World Cup played on the home ground.
John Wright, the first foreign coach of the Indian cricket team, mentioned a truth during his tenure. He had said, "When the result is not in favor of the team, first it is the departure of the coach. Then the captain. Then it is the turn of the coach. It is a cycle. In such a situation, the question is that if the Indian team does not get the expected results on November 19, then whose farewell will be done first, Rahul's or Rohit's, it is not decided.
The importance of November 19 can be gauged from the fact that it is being said from now that if India wins this World Cup, the government can get the Lok Sabha elections ahead of time. These speculations are being made because November 19 can affect the mood of the general public of India.
Rahul Dravid captained the Indian team in the 2007 World Cup. In this World Cup, India was out of the race only after two matches. As a captain, this World Cup proved to be a nightmare for Rahul Dravid. People don't even remember that it was Dravid as captain who led India to a Test series victory in England after a wait of 20 years.
The better answer to this question would be that Dravid is somewhere between pass and fail. Till now, for the coach of the Indian team, the victory of the bilateral series has been seen as a starter in the food. The main course is the ICC World Trophy.
Dravid has not been able to change this situation till now and hence questions are being raised on his coaching tenure as well. As a coach, Dravid's team could not win the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup and recently lost to Australia in the final of the World Test Championship.
The performance of Indian cricket has been consistently good on domestic and foreign grounds for the last two decades and has been counted among the best teams in the world. But despite the presence and resources of many talented players, the supremacy of the Indian team has not been shown. The team has not been seen as a team which is difficult to beat.
In every major ICC tournament in the last ten years, the team's journey has come to an end before the final. There can be many reasons for this – preparation, injuries to players, team selection, decision making decisions. Neither the players nor the coach can control the first two reasons. No Indian cricket would miss the IPL tournament to prepare for the World Test Championship.
While preparing the IPL schedule and calendar, the Indian Cricket Board neither takes into account the World Test Championship nor the World Cup. Apart from this, neither the coach nor the selectors talk about the workload of the players.
It is true that Rishabh Pant's car accident could not be predicted beforehand, but who was responsible for managing Jasprit Bumrah's workload? Indian cricket in the era of Rohit-Dravid is facing the same problems which were present in the era of Kohli-Shastri.
The problem remains regarding the decisive decision during the game keeping in mind the conditions during the team selection and the match. This is the bitter truth. Dravid's stature and prestige are so huge that despite appearing shorter than Shastri, after every miscalculation all eyes are on him apart from Rohit Sharma.
However, we have to note that compared to football managers, the influence of a cricket coach is lesser than what it is believed to be on the field of play.
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