Rahul Dravid’s enduring legacy as coach: From handling smooth transition to shepherding Team India to T20 World Cup triumph | Cricket News

Rahul Dravid signed off from his India coach stint in the Caribbean as a World Cup-winning coach. And the scene of despair as captain at the nightmarish 2007 50-over World Cup, ended in a World Cup triumph at Barbados for India’s eternal Mr Consent. In a cricketing landscape, which is forever trying to find a superhero in a team sport, it wasn’t surprising that the man who put an end to the hashtag “Do It For Dravid”, was Rahul Dravid himself.As the team made it to their third ICC final in a year, giving the India head coach a final shot to end his coaching stint with a World Cup trophy that has eluded him since his playing days, it appeared fitting. Except in Dravid’s world.
“It’s totally against who I am as a person, totally against my values,” Dravid said of the campaign the host broadcaster. “I don’t really believe in this ‘do it for somebody’. I love that quote about somebody asking someone ‘why do you want to climb Mt. Everest?’ Because it’s… there. Why do we want to win this World Cup? Because… it’s there. It’s not “for” anybody. We just want to play good cricket. Doing it for someone is not something I believe in so I really don’t want to talk about it,” he told the broadcaster.

They are making it extra special for Dravid. Kohli behind the planning. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/dhe4wUoPYV
— ∆ 🏏 (@CaughtAtGully) June 29, 2024
It didn’t end there. There was one another plea at the end. “If you can get that campaign removed, I’d appreciate it.”
This is classic Dravid. When the spotlight falls on him, he has had a habit of moving it on someone else, who he believes deserves it more. In this case, the spotlight had to be on the team. During his captaincy days, he has had a first-hand experience of the pitfalls the team would endure if the coach decided to be at the forefront of everything.

The most enduring image from the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, is Dravid flicking his tears from the Port of Spain pavilion. It was the image that splashed across the front pages of dailies. Not of coach Greg Chappell.
And from the time Dravid took charge reluctantly of the Indian team after the 2021 T20 World Cup, he has done every bit to ensure he is merely a ‘support staff’ who is there to help the players and the captain. Within the team, there is huge admiration for his meticulous planning and the extent he went to, to make players feel comfortable.
When the Ravi Shastri-Virat Kohli era ended, the dressing room was a divided house. Apart from groupism, there were some insecure faces thanks to the constant chopping and changing. And Dravid would straight-away get down to addressing it. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane would return to the fold and KL Rahul would go about owning his spot without having to worry about getting dropped after a bad performance. Earlier this year, Shubman Gill benefited from it during the series against England, when he responded with a timely century after a string of low scores in Test cricket.

But what went largely unnoticed is how well Dravid managed the transition. During his tenure, India had to take some tough calls. They had to look beyond Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha at critical junctures. Later on, they had to cull Pujara and Rahane as well as look for young legs. Such calls in the past have come with plenty of noise in India’s cricketing eco-system. It has broken friendships, leaving a sour taste. But Dravid would make it a point to inform players the reason they were dropped.
“As a captain I believe in informing the player why it has happened,” Rohit Sharma told The Indian Express. “Rahul Dravid has been brilliant in this and vocal about letting the players know what is happening. It is very important that players know ke bhai kya chal raha hai. Why is anyone dropped? Players do get upset and it’s valid too. I too have gone through the same thing. My agenda is to get the best from the team, however, we can. Honestly, we are a team that decides how we should play, who we should play. The combination which is best for us. I’m not the only one who decides which player I want, what is going to happen, this and that. It is just a collective decision,” Rohit said.
India coach Rahul Dravid celebrates after winning the T20 World Cup REUTERS/Ash Allen
According to those who worked in his close circles, Dravid is the best asset Rohit, the captain could have wished for. While Rohit’s imprints are all over the team, Dravid has had his own share of moments. During last year’s World Cup at home, when Hardik Pandya suffered an injury, it was Dravid who put forth the idea of playing three seamers instead of R Ashwin, who would have added batting depth. That third seamer happened to be Mohammed Shami, who ended-up as the leading wicket-taker of the World Cup.

“We all knew Pandya is the one who will provide us the balance and we were dependent totally on him. And when we lost Pandya to injury, it was Dravid who wanted to play three seamers and play Shami ahead of Ashwin even in the slow conditions. He believed attacking was the way to go and we all saw what happened after that. Even we were a bit unsure about playing Shami as we would be compromising on the batting depth and playing Ashwin would have been more helpful. But Dravid convinced Rohit to try this because we always had Ashwin to fall back on if the plan didn’t work because playing just two seamers had more risk than playing just two spinners,” says a source in the team’s close circle.

Despite all the success under Shastri-Kohli, India mostly came across as a side that had its priorities in the long format with white-ball taking a back-seat. But Rohit insed on being an all-format side, and combined with Dravid to take the team forward in white-ball cricket, playing a brand of cricket that is in tune with the times. That India managed to reach the final in successive white-ball cricket tournaments after making the World Test Championship final is a testimony to giving all three formats equal footing.

The most enduring image of Dravid’s coaching career would be the one where he jumps of his seat in Ranchi after Dhruv Jurel hit the winning runs against England that gave India an unassailable 3-1 lead. After the Bazballers from England took a 1-0 lead in Hyderabad, India looked lost in their own conditions. Apart from finding answers to Bazball, India who were without Virat Kohli would also miss KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja in the subsequent Test. But with the most inexperienced batting group ever assembled India in the last five decades, they would script a memorable win.

“There was a temptation to go back to Pujara when we didn’t have Pujara and KL…but Dravid didn’t want to go back. Both Rohit and Dravid had a common message…let’s go with youngsters because there is no way we would move forward as a team if we don’t give them opportunities. There was plenty to lose if the move didn’t work, but they stuck their neck out and said let’s do it,” said a selector.

As a captain, Dravid came across as one who wanted to take the game forward. He didn’t succeed that often. But as a coach, with a like-minded captain in the seat, it would be safe to say India moved forward under Dravid. More than the trophies, handling the transition smoothly was Dravid’s biggest challenge. But shepherding team to make all three ICC finals across all three formats, on three separate continents, would be Dravid’s biggest imprint as a coach.
Perhaps his lowest point came with that unexpected 2007 World Cup exit. The circle completes with this final 17 years later, in the Caribbean.