Rahul Dravid ended his India head coach tenure with T20 World Cup 2024 win.
Rahul Dravid finally ended his India head coach tenure on a high as India won the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and the West Indies. India defeated South Africa in the final on June 29 in Barbados by 7 runs.
This gave the Indian team the much-needed ICC trophy boost as they had last held ICC silverware in 2013. Under Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma, India reached the semi-final of the 2022 T20 World Cup and the finals of the 2023 World Test Championship and the ICC World Cup, only to lose to Australia both times.
After Rohit Sharma and the Indian team lifted the T20 World Cup trophy and celebrated, Virat Kohli handed over the trophy to Rahul Dravid and the usually calm coach let out his emotions with the silverware in his hands.
Dravid claimed that as a coach, he was always careful to keep his emotions under control. However, he opened up about the hard work that the players and other members of the coaching staff had put in, and he believed that the celebration was simply a release of their feelings.
"You don't plan these things. In most times, I try to keep my emotions in check as a coach and you are expected to do that. But at that time, I felt really happy for the team. I felt happy for the boys. I felt happy for the support staff. So many people who had worked really hard along with me,” Dravid told Star Sports.
Dravid did not extend his contract as India's head coach after the T20 World Cup citing family commitments.
Rahul Dravid also mentioned how close the Men in Blue had been to winning several prior ICC events during his tenure. He believed that fate was not on their side at the time, but it showed brightly during the T20 World Cup final.
"I had been with the team for 2.5-3 years and we had come close a few times, whether it be the semifinals of the last T20 World Cup in Australia, the World Test Championship final, or the 50-over World Cup final in India, and we were just not able to cross the line in those critical moments. In those situations, you need a little bit of luck, a little bit of destiny to work your way and that day it was with us," he stated.
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