Former Indian Skipper Rahul Dravid replaced Ravi Shastri as the head coach of the Indian national team following the completion of the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai. The Indian team went through a massive overhaul after the 2021 World Cup as Rohit Sharma took over as the Indian skipper in all three formats of the game.
With high expectations from the fans, Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma could not replicate the success of Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli in home and away conditions, as the team failed to go past the super four stages in Asia Cup 2022 following a semifinal defeat in the 2022 T20 World Cup and a humiliating defeat against Australia in World Test Championship final in Kennington, Oval.
The strategies and tactics of Rahul Dravid came under the scanner following their team selections for the crunch games as they left Yuzvendra Chahal from playing 11 during T20 World Cup and Ravichandran Ashwin in the WTC final.
1. Ravi Shastri Had A Highly Competitive Approach In Game Play
Ravi Shastri is known for their aggressive approach to game plans during high-pressure tournaments. The team under him and Virat Kohli played a dominant brand of cricket in the longer format and shorter format of the game.
Under his tenure as the Indian head coach, the Indian team had many memorable wins including the Asia Cup 2018 and Nidahas Trophy and in the longer format of the game, India won back-t0-back Border Gavaskar series in Australia, which is considered one of the best wins of the decade by the Asian Giants.
The philosophy of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri worked during their tenure, as the team performed exceptionally well in the 2019 ODI World Cup and 2021 WTC Final before losing in the crunch moments of the game, On the other hand, Rahul Dravid is known for safer approach going into bigger tournaments, which backfired for the team in bigtime.
2. Better Plans Going Into The ICC Events
Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli had better plans preparing for the massive ICC event, as they backed their players going into the big events. Many Indian youngsters were groomed during his stint as the head coach with KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah were grown in confidence to perform for the country at the highest level.
The Indian team gave players a longer run during (2017-21) as they maintained the same group of core players with Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami giving the bigger stage to express their potential against the high-quality opponents.
3. Coming Out On Top From Critical Situations
Indian team had the confidence to make the impossible happen during Ravi Shastri’s tenure as the head coach of India. As the Men in Blue came for a tough situation in Nidahas Trophy, as the team chased down 34 runs off 12 balls, with Dinesh Karthik finishing the game off in style with six over the covers to seal the trophy for India.
In Asia Cup 2018, the Indian team chased down the total on the final ball in a tricky situation to win the trophy in Dubai, and with the longer format of the game too the team had some memorable wins in England and Australia outplaying the high-quality opponents in Overseas conditions
4. Having Better Support Staff In The Team
Ravi Shastri picked up some prominent names from the Indian domestic coaching circuit to support him during his coaching stint, as Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun, and R Sridhar were highly impressive during their days with the Indian team, as most of the players improved their skillset in the game during their tenure as Indian head coach.
The coaching stint of Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar ended November 8, 2021, with the side’s last match of the T20 World Cup against Namibia with Rahul Dravid brought in a new set of Indian coaching staff, who have failed a to inspire the Indian players to do well in International cricket, especially the Indian fielding came under scanner as the team’s fielding standard drastically fell in 2022.
5. High-Quality Player And Injury Management
Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli managed their players very well, as they kept the backup players ready even during the Covid times finding the replacement players, as the team fielded two separate teams in white-ball format and red-ball format at a stage.
Team India has struggled with a spate of injuries in recent months, which include Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and Prasidh Krishna, all of whom are expected to miss most of the 2023 cricket season.
In recent months, the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, and Washington Sundar had to spend a good amount of time at the NCA due to their persistent injury issues.