Former India head coach Rahul Dravid has revealed that the 2021-22 Test series loss in South Africa was the lowest point during his tenure.

Under Dravid’s tutelage, India ended their prolonged trophy drought in ICC tournaments by winning the T20 World Cup in June. However, the pinnacle moment of his coaching career came after enduring a lot of heartbreaks, including the ODI World Cup final defeat against Australia last year.

Having signed off on a high, Dravid looked back at the lowest point of his coaching career which came in 2021. In December of that year, India entered their South Africa tour amid a series of transition and off-field controversies.

Dravid succeeded Ravi Shastri as the new head coach after India were knocked out of the group stage of the T20 World Cup. Virat Kohli, who stepped down as the T20I captain following the debacle, was also removed from ODI leadership. The tourists won the first Test but succumbed to consecutive defeats, losing the series 1-2.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Dravid felt that the series loss in his maiden assignment was the most difficult phase of his coaching career: "If you ask me what is the lowest point, I would say the South Africa Test series early on in my career.

"We won the first Test match in South Africa in Centurion, and then we were playing in the second and third Test match. We have never won a series in South Africa, as you know. It was a really big opportunity for us to win that series."

He added: "Some of our senior players were not there. Rohit Sharma was injured, and we didn’t have some senior players in that series. But we were very close, and in both the Test matches — the second and the third test matches — in the third innings, we had a big opportunity. We could have set a decent score and won the game, but South Africa played well. They chased back in in the fourth innings. So I would say that that was probably my lowest point in my coaching of not being able to win that series in spite of being ahead."

India are yet to win a Test series in the country as they toured once more during Dravid’s tenure in 2023-24, sharing the series 1-1.

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