Team India’s head coach Rahul Dravid will start feeling the heat. The former India captain joined Team India in Dubai for the Asia Cup 2022 at the last minute after suffering from COVID-19. However, his stay in the UAE was not a pleasant one as Rohit Sharma’s team failed to defend their Asia Cup crown, getting out early after losing their first two Super 4 matches against arch-rivals Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
A lot of introspection will be required, but not much time is left before India travel to Australia for the start of the T20 World Cup 2022 next month. Former selector Saba Karim feels that coach Dravid’s ‘honeymoon period’ with Team India is over.
“Although Rahul Dravid also knows that the honeymoon period is over, and he is trying his best to become an alchemist, such metals have not been converted to the core yet. One would expect him to do so. This is a time of crisis for Rahul Dravid. Along with World Cup T20, ODI World Cup is coming up next year. These two big ICC events, if India can win both these championships then only Rahul Dravid will be satisfied with the inputs given to Team India,” Saba Karim said on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘Sports Over the Top’.
Karim further explained the inconsistent results under Dravid’s coaching. “If given the option, Rahul Dravid would love to win the Test series in South Africa and the last Test in England. He would love to swap India with so many bilateral victories that India has got. But that is the nature of the challenges that Rahul Dravid has to face,” felt the former India wicketkeeper.
“Look Rahul is smart and wise enough to understand that the only way to define a successful tenure of his coaching career is if India – number one, wins ICC events and number two he starts winning test series in SENA countries .I am not talking about Test wins. Test wins even when Rahul Dravid was playing, India has done that. But more importantly, when India starts winning Test series in Army countries, that’s when Rahul Dravid Will be very happy with the performance of Team India.
And the records keep breaking…@imVkohli Became the third Indian batsman after Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar to cross 24000 runs in international cricket. #playbold #teamindia #Virat Kohli pic.twitter.com/Nsg1xJ2rtW
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) 9 September 2022
Karim was surprised that team india T20 World Cup 2022 has not resolved its playing XI so close. “Yes, I was also quite surprised because I thought that before going into the Asia Cup, India have sorted out their combination. But I can understand that Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel and then recently Ravindra Jadeja had to work hard because of the injury.
“But having said that, once you get the combination right, you can always replace it with the resources you have. For example, India’s home series against South Africa starts with a very It has been a successful T20 campaign, with 5 bowlers as well as Hardik Pandya as the sixth bowling option, with such a combination India have gone ahead, and India have achieved a pretty decent win. Against South Africa at home, In England even against West Indies. And I don’t know why India strayed from that path in the game after the first win against Pakistan and played with 5 bowlers including Hardik Pandya with 5 bowlers.