Rahul Dravid was appointed India’s head coach in October 2021. Under his guidance, the team won the Asia Cup 2024 and reached the final of the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup last year but failed to cross final hurdles, losing to Australia on both occasions.
However, Dravid’s coaching tenure ended with an ICC trophy as Rohit Sharma and his men clinched the T20 World Cup 2024 title in the Caribbean in June.
On Wednesday (August 21), Dravid revealed that there were no differences in preparation between the ODI and the T20 World Cups.
Speaking at a CEAT awards event, the legendary cricketer said the general consensus amongst the coaching staff was that the team needed to replicate the exact processes that they had during the 50-over World Cup.
“Honestly, I didn't want to do anything different. I think we ran a fantastic campaign in the one-day World Cup, Rohit and the team, everyone involved in that one-day World Cup, we ran a superb campaign,” Dravid stated.
“There's nothing we could have done more in terms of our preparation, the planning, the execution of what we needed to do for 10 games in a row to dominate, to win the game we did, play the game we did,” he added.
“I did not want to change anything. If you'd asked me and we had a discussion with our support staff, we'd get together with the coaches and say, what do you think we should do differently?”
“The common consensus (among the team) was we need to do exactly what we did. We need to create the same energy, create the same vibe, the same team atmosphere that we had and then just hope that on the day, we'll have a little bit of luck,” he further stated.
Although he never featured in a World Cup at home, Dravid was able to absorb the excitement as the head coach. "To travel all over this country and to be able to experience that joy and passion of the fans. I've never been a part of a World Cup as a player in India, but just the experience as a coach to go from city to city and just walk and see what this game meant to the people of this country was phenomenal. It was incredible," he remarked.
Rahul Dravid said while India had a brilliant campaign in the 2023 World Cup, Australia were the better team in the final.
"I thought we ran a phenomenal campaign. We came unstuck in the final and Australia played better cricket than us on the day. They were a better team and congratulations (to them). That can happen in sport and that's what sport is about," he concluded.
(With PTI Inputs)
