The secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Jay Shah has thanked the former head coach of the senior men’s side of the Indian team, as a tribute to his contribution, after he finishes his tenure in the role with the end of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, where they became the champions.
Dravid took the role at the end of the 2021 20-over ICC event, where India was knocked out from the group stage of the competition while sharing a great and successful partnership with former T20I player of the country, Rohit Sharma.
Jay Shah has expressed his gratitude to Dravid for his excellence in building a culture among the team which also leaves a legacy behind. The team bond in the dressing room of the Indian team is such strong and their results could be witnessed in the field.
‘Under Rahul Dravid’s guidance, India emerged as a dominant force across formats’- Jay Shah
Both Dravid and Rohit came close on many occasions during their period in winning the ICC trophy. Whether it’s during the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, where the blue brigade reached the semifinal of the tournament, before being blown away by the England side with a 10-wicket defeat, where they were not aggressive enough to put a decent score on the board.
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Half a year later, they faced Australia during the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) at the Kennington Oval in London and failed to cross the rope one last time, as their batting again found to be struggling on those swingy conditions under the clouds, and had no answer to the opponents bowling.
Then came the ODI World Cup 2023, at home, again six months later. For the whole competition, the team under them were comparative and ruthless with both bat and ball, as they earned nine straight wins and reached the final with an unbeaten streak.
And coming to the final of the tournament, they didn’t get enough runs for the board, before finishing on the wrong side of the result. That could have been the end of Rahul Dravid’s coaching period but Rohit had a close call with him in asking him to extend his period till the T20 World Cup 2024.
India again was excellent in the group stage of the tournament, before they reached the final of the event. For the whole competition, the talk was about changing the way they used to play the shortest format of the game, and they successfully achieved that.
They were struggling at both ends of the entire game, whether it was during the start of their batting, losing three wickets in the powerplay, or it’s towards the death overs with the ball when at a point it looked impossible to make a comeback. But they did, and that shows what character has been built among the players by the former India captain, Rahul Dravid.
‘I express my sincere thanks and gratitude to Mr. Rahul Dravid whose highly successful tenure as the Head Coach draws to a close. Under his guidance.’ The BCCI secretary Jay Shah expressed this on his ‘X’ handle, formerly known as Twitter. ‘Team India emerged as a dominant force across formats, including being crowned ICC Men’s T20 World Cup champions!’
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He also spoke about how Dravid’s persistent efforts to nurture talent have instilled a culture of excellence among the team.
‘His strategic acumen, persistent efforts to nurture talent and exemplary leadership has instilled a culture of excellence within the team and that is also the legacy his leaves behind.’ Jay Shah reflected. ‘The Indian dressing room today is one cohesive unit standing together through challenges while reveling in each other’s success.’
There are rumors that Dravid could join Kolkata Knight Riders as their mentor for the upcoming IPL 2025.