Dravid ended his coaching career on a high, helping India win their second T20 World Cup trophy.
Rahul Dravid’s tenure as the head coach of the Indian cricket team ended with the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph. The Men in Blue defeated South Africa by seven runs in the final in Barbados last week to end their long-standing ICC trophy drought.
With Dravid at the helm, Team India also made it to the final of the World Test Championship and the Cricket World Cup last year. However, they failed to lift the title, losing to Australia on both occasions.
In a video shared by bcci.tv, Dravid reflected on his time with the national team, his achievements and his disappointments.
"I'd like to believe that coaching is not just about coaching cricket. It's about coaching and building connections with people, creating right environment that allows success. I feel that I'm a part of a team whose responsibility is to create the right professional, safe, secure environment that doesn't really have a fear of failure as such but is challenging enough to push people. That has always been my endavour to try and create that," Dravid said.
The T20 World Cup final against South Africa also marked the end of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s T20I careers as the legendary duo announced their retirement from the shortest format, paving the way for the young generation.
Taking about his bond with Rohit, Dravid said: "I've really enjoyed working with Rohit, he's someone I knew as a young boy, just to see him grow as a person, grow as a leader in Indian cricket, what someone like him has been able to contribute to the team over the last 10-12 years, both as a player and now as a leader, has been a real tribute to him and the effort he has put in, the time he has put in. I've really enjoyed getting to know him as a person as well, really enjoyed seeing his commitment, his care to the team, just to try to get the environment right, to try and make it an environment where everyone feels safe, secure, enjoy themselves, while it's also a very competitive and a professional environment. It's something that I'll miss, this connection with Rohit."
Rahul Dravid also commended Kohli for his professionalism and commitment. "With Virat, during his initial days I had only a couple of series with him as a captain, just a couple of Test matches. But then just getting to know him as well and just to see the way he goes about his business, his professionalism that he continues to display, his desire to improve, his desire to get better, I think it's simply fascinating for me to watch," he remarked.
On the memories that he will carry from his coaching stint, Dravid said, "The kind of people that I've had the pleasure of working with, my coaching staff, people who I've worked closely with and the support staff as well, the professionalism around them, I think that for me is really the fondest thing I'll have. I know there have been results, we've had some good results and some results have not been that easy, but that's part and parcel of being a coach and a cricket team.”
“But for me I think the fondest memory that I'll take is the connections that I've built, the friendships that I've built, that'll last long after I forget some of the good results and bad results. And my family as well. Everyone invested in the Indian team over the last two and a half years, I certainly have by being here, but so has my family. Each and every result that the Indian team has been a part of, serves me really nice as well to see how my two young boys have been involved in every result.”
“I have really enjoyed myself, I think it's been a great learning experience for me, I loved connecting with the team, I loved connecting with the players, some of them I have known earlier, having coached them in Under-19, India A having been there, I had already interacted with most of them before having got here. There have been some new ones as well I have got to know over the last two and a half years. Some of the boys whom I started playing with like Rohit, Virat. For me to see how they've grown and they've become is also really nice. Got to know them a little more, personally, it's been quite fantastic. I've really enjoyed it, I'll only take pleasant memories from my two and a half years here with India."
Sharing his coaching philosophy, Dravid said he detested chop and change in the line-up too much and always attempted to act as a counterbalance for Rohit so the latter could come up with winning plans of his own.
"I'm someone who actually likes continuity and don't like to chop and change too many things because I believe that creates a lot of instability and doesn't create very good environment. I feel that I am a part of the team whose responsibility is to create the right professional, safe, secure environment that doesn't really have a fear of failure as such but is challenging enough to push people. That has always been my endeavour."