Indian head coach Rahul Dravid opened up about Team India’s ICC title drought in recent years, as the Indian team was not able to cross the final hurdle in the last few ICC events. The Indian team won their last ICC trophy under the leadership of legendary MS Dhoni in the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Since then, India has advanced to the ODI World Cup semifinals in 2015, the T20 World Cup final in 2016, the ODI World Cup final in 2019, and the 2021 WTC Final but could not go one step further in the big tournaments as the team fell short of the title, despite doing well in the league stages of the tournament. Many Cricket Experts and fans expect India to end their ICC title dry spell in the WTC final against Australia.
Speaking to the media ahead of their clash against Baggy Green, Rahul Dravid feels that the Indian team was not under pressure to win an ICC tournament, as the team always looked to the bigger picture, as the team worked hard to reach this level over the last two years and reckons that they were a lot of positives in the couple years, where they defeated high-quality teams like Australia and England over the last 5-6 years in red-ball Cricket.
“Not at all, we don’t feel any pressure in terms of trying to win an ICC trophy. Of course, it would be nice to do it. Nice to be able to win an ICC tournament,”
“But also, in the context of things, you look at this and you see this is the culmination of 2 years of work, the culmination of a lot of success that gets you here. There are a lot of positives to take from that, see where you stand in the table, winning series in Australia, drawing series here. Being very competitive, this team has played in the world over in the last 5-6 years. Those are things that will never change, just because, you don’t have an ICC trophy. That’s really the bigger picture,” Rahul Dravid said.
Many Cricket Experts and fans expect India to end their ICC title dry spell in the WTC final against Australia. The Men in Blue have crumbled under pressure in the crunch moments of the game, as they lost the Champions trophy final in 2017, Semifinals in 2019, and WTC final against New Zealand in 2021 it is noteworthy that every game, where played in England.
It Would Be Nice To Get On The Right Side Of The Result – Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid said that it would be nice to lift the elusive trophy against Australia in England in this edition of the World Test Championship final and reckons that the Indian team always wanted to win every game they play in high-octane matches.
“But, of course, it would be nice to be able to lift… any game of cricket, you want to win it. This happens to be the WTC final and it would be nice to get on the right side of the result,” Rahul Dravid added.
Two of the best teams in the last two years in red-ball cricket will come up against each other, as the world-class players in both teams will look to contribute to their team success in the mouth-watering encounters starting on Wednesday at Oval.