Rahul Dravid’s tenure as Team India's head coach will end after the T20 World Cup 2024 as he announced that this will be his final tournament at the helm. Dravid had taken over from Ravi Shastri in 2021 and his tenure ended after the 2023 ICC World Cup.
But the BCCI offered him a six-month extension, which Dravid accepted as the board searched for a new head coach.
Former India keeper-batter Parthiv Patel reviewed the tenure of the legend as India’s head coach.
While Dravid would have loved to add a couple of ICC medals to his coaching record, Parthiv Patel believes that doing so much to safeguard Indian cricket's future will be one of his greatest achievements.
Parthiv, Dravid's former India colleague, emphasized the main areas on which The Wall spent a lot of time, which will benefit the Indian cricket team in the future.
"As a coach, you want to win the trophy, but another factor is what kind of culture you want to imbibe within the team. What kind of cricket do you want to play? And the biggest example of that was India's attacking style during the World Cup. There were question marks about whether they could, but Team India constantly did it. One bad day and India couldn't win the World Cup. In Tests, they lost the WTC final. But they reached the final under him," Parthiv told Cricbuzz.
Parthiv Patel praised Dravid for his ability to identify and develop talent. Sarfaraz Khan, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, and Devdutt Padikkal have gained Test caps and are poised to step in when the current generation of elite players retire.
"Also look at the new players that came in. Among wicketkeepers, after Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel announced himself. Among pacers, after Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj, the likes of Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar bowled well. Even spinners are lined up. Whatever there was to do, Rahul Dravid did it with aplomb. Yashasvi Jaiswal was your leading run-scorer against England, and Shubman Gill became your No. 3 batter, which is a big move. In the series which India won, Virat Kohli wasn't your No. 1 batter. So there have been plenty of positives for which Rahul Dravid would be remembered," added the former India wicketkeeper.
