Rahul Dravid has inherited an excellent Indian side, and is leaving behind a side just as good, if not better, across formats.
If you cannot remember Rahul Dravid celebrating the way he did after the T20 World Cup final at Bridgetown, it is probably because social media was in its nascent stages during India’s triumphant tour of England 2007, and for some reason, the photographs never became as popular as of some of India’s other famous wins.
One cannot help but draw a parallel between the two victories. If 2024 marked the end of the stint of Dravid the coach, 2007 was his last as captain. In 2024, India won an ICC trophy after 11 years, a World Cup after 13, and a T20 World Cup after 17. In 2007, they won a Test series in England after 21 years.
But the similarities between Dravid the former captain and the now-former coach are not limited to how they ended. We shall come to that.
Being talked into it
Dravid was one of the most important names in the Indian cricket history when he took over as Indian head coach at the end of 2021. One of their greatest batters and a more successful captain than perceived (his win-loss ratio of 1.25 away from home is the best for India with a 15-Test cut-off), he had coached India Under-19 to a World Cup title and done an excellent job as both India A coach and National Cricket Academy director.
It is important to understand these roles. While captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri took India to unprecedented heights in Test cricket and helped them compete with the best in ODIs, Dravid oversaw the supply chain in three different capacities behind the scenes.
Despite the media-fuelled controversy around Dravid’s appointment as Shastri’s successor, there was little doubt over it being a logical move. You cannot blame BCCI president Sourav Ganguly for talking his former colleague into accepting the role.
There were initial blows. New Zealand saved a Test at Kanpur nine wickets down. India went one-up in South Africa but lost the series. Kohli resigned as Test captain and, days later, was sacked as ODI captain. Within days of taking over, Dravid the coach found himself in charge of a team in turmoil, and fending off controversies around a change in captaincy.
Just like the early days of Dravid the captain.
India clean swept Sri Lanka easily, but they returned to England for the one Test that would complete the 2021 series. Neither Rohit nor KL Rahul was available, leaving India without their captain, vice-captain, and both openers. India summoned Cheteshwar Pujara from the County Championship and made him open, and Jasprit Bumrah led India. In his first eight Tests, Dravid worked with five captains, three of whom were leading for the first time.
India won in Bangladesh without Rohit and with Rahul as captain. Then they beat Australia at home without Rishabh Pant. It was India’s fourth consecutive Test series win against Australia (including two away from home), but none of that mattered once India went down to Australia in the World Test Championship final.
The final was as good as decided on the first day when Steve Smith and Travis Head added 285 runs, 76 more than the eventual margin of victory. India were without Bumrah, Pant, and Shreyas Iyer. They had arrived there barely a week after the IPL final, where several Indians played but no Australian did. It was their second Test match outside Asia in a year and a half.
None of this was Dravid’s fault, but as is often the case, some wanted him and Rohit to be removed. Of course, India’s undignified exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup had contributed to that. There, Bumrah’s absence had taken the sting out of their attack and Jadeja’s absence had affected their balance, but an outdated approach to T20 batting had played its part as well.
But even the disappointment of the WTC final seemed minuscule when pitted against the heartbreak of the World Cup later that year. India barely broke a sweat as they stormed into the World Cup final, winning ten games on the trot.
Pat Cummins silenced a nation that treats professional cricketers as demigods but has little patience for their failures. The blow was enough for many to forget the ten-match run or the incredible success in bilateral series. Yet again there were calls for the sacking of those at the helm.
Being talked into it: the sequel
Dravid’s stint was slated to end after the World Cup, but he accepted an extension until the 2024 T20 World Cup. Yet again, he had to be talked into it – this time, by Rohit, over a phone call.
There were other things to be dealt with before the T20 World Cup, of course. India returned without losing a Test series in South Africa only for the second time. India used Rahul, an opening batter, as a wicketkeeper who batted in the middle order. Despite being without Kohli and Mohammed Shami, despite fielding five debutants over the course of the series (for the second time since 1996) and losing the first Test, India beat England 4-1 at home.
At the 2024 T20 World Cup, India’s bowling unit was near-faultless. India entered the final unbeaten. At the halfway stage in the final, no one knew whether they had made enough. India struck early, but there were moments when they seemed to be down and out. Just like 2023.
Yet, unlike 2023, things went India’s way. One can argue that India were luckier. Unlike 2023, Hardik Pandya was available throughout the World Cup. They did not have to revert to a Plan B halfway through the series to strike the right balance.
But there were also visible tactical changes. In the Dravid era, Rohit led India’s conscious change towards top-order batting in both ODIs and T20Is, and continued to bat in the same mould. Kohli followed suit in 2024 to give India a double-barrelled opening pair, but was nimble enough to revert to his strength once India lost early wickets in the final.
Having learnt a lesson in the 2023 final, India were insistent on Jadeja’s batting buffer ahead of superior bowlers with lesser batting credentials. He went largely unused, but his presence influenced how the other seven batters would bat.
Dravid had taken over a battered Indian T20I side and left them as world champions. In the two longer formats, he never led the standards drop. India did not win a World Cup but went a step beyond 2015 and 2019 in 2023. On performance, 2023 was arguably their greatest World Cup.
There was no World Test Championship title either, but India are set to qualify for the final for the third time in a row, despite the plethora of captains Dravid the coach had to work with.
Years later, when one looks back at his stint, they will realise that he was a mere two matches away from completing the full set of four World Cups as coach.
That will certainly be an improvement on how his days as captain is remembered. Dravid had led India to their first Test match triumphs in Pakistan and South Africa; and was their first captain to win Test series in the West Indies after 35 years (in a series where Brian Lara played but Sachin Tendulkar did not) and in England after 21 (without a coach). In ODIs, he famously led them in phase when they won 17 consecutive games while chasing.
It is an impressive CV by any definition, but the legacy of Dravid the captain is often overshadowed by the Ganguly-Greg Chappell controversy.
The lasting memories of Dravid the coach will be fonder. The new head coach will have giant shoes to fill.
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