Rahul Dravid signed off as India’s head coach in style as he showed raw emotions while celebrating India’s T20 World Cup 2024 win in Barbados in June. It was the culmination of lots of hard work put in by Dravid and his team along with the team India members.
After the heartbreaks of losing two finals to Australia, the WTC 2023 final in England, and the ICC World Cup summit clash in Ahmedabad, India was determined to end their drought of ICC trophy wins.
And India did it in style with Rohit Sharma leading by example and Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah helping him create history as India won the T20 World Cup 2024 undefeated. They beat South Africa in the final on June 29.
Post the World Cup win, Rahul Dravid was invited by the Indian team to lift the trophy as well, and everyone saw a new side of the former India captain, who usually remains calm and cool. Dravid let out a huge scream as he lifted the trophy and became one of the boys while celebrating the victory.
However, during the recent CEAT Awards, Rahul Dravid revealed that he avoid watching his celebration video clips with his sons Anvay and Samit.
"We strived to achieve something together. When you come to the end of it, you have moments like that. It's great to celebrate. I try to avoid showing that to my children, thinking I've gone mad or something. But yeah, I was always telling the boys we got to maintain our balance, and remain cool, not go up and down with results. Thank god it was my last game, otherwise after that, they would have said 'You're saying one thing but doing something else'," Dravid said at the CEAT Awards, the full version of which was released on Sunday.
Samit, 18, and Anvay, 14 are budding cricketers, with Samit recently making his professional cricket debut for the Mysuru Warriors in the Maharaja T20. Thanks to his impressive performance, Samit was included in the India U19 squad for the multi-format home series against Australia U19.
Dravid emphasized a critical aspect of the game that is frequently overlooked: cricket has more failures than successes.
"The beauty of awards like this is that they only show you lovely things that you've done on a cricket field. But the honest fact is, and that's the truth, that you're failing a lot more than you're succeeding in this game. The list of failures and disappointments would be a lot as well in a long career.
But that's what makes it so much more fun, and enjoyable when you have moments like that, either as a player or coach. Just to be able to go on a campaign with people that you respect, admire, and look up to, and people who go through ups and downs in life. To come out on the other side and win trophies, big events, Test matches, ODIs, championships is a fantastic feeling,” Dravid stated.
Rahul Dravid had jokingly asked the reporters during the T20 World Cup if they had any job leads for him. Dravid stepped down as India's head coach after the T20 World Cup 2024 win.
While reports have suggested that Dravid is going back to Rajasthan Royals as their mentor/coach for IPL 2025, the ex-coach revealed what his wife Vijeta Pendharkar wants him to do in his next gig.
"My wife has a suggestion. She wants me to be at home and take care of the kids, but any suggestions - and I'll share my e-mail ID with you - and recommendations, are more than welcome," he said.
(Hindustan Times inputs)
