Rahul Dravid, Team India’s head coach has termed the Test series loss in South Africa as a ‘disappointment’ while looking back on his eight-month stint with the team so far.
The 49-year-old Rahul Dravid took charge as India’s coach after Ravi Shastri’s tenure ended following the disappointing 2021 T20I World Cup in the UAE last year. One of Rahul Dravid’s early assignments was the tour of South Africa. India won the Boxing Day Test in Centurion, but the visitors lost the other two games to lose the series.
Rahul Dravid: South Africa Test Series Disappointing As India Lost Last 2 Tests Despite Being 1-0 Up
In an interview, Rahul Dravid said that India squandered a great opportunity to clinch their maiden Test series win in South Africa. After registering an impressive 113-run win in Centurion, India lost the second Test in Johannesburg by seven wickets and went down in Cape Town by the same margin.
He said: “When I look back on the eight months, South Africa was a little bit of a disappointment in terms of the Test series – going 1-0 up there and not being able to do the job, especially with the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.”
In the 2nd Test, KL Rahul was put in charge of the team after Virat Kohli had missed the fixture due to an injury (back spasms). Dean Elgar struck a gritty, unbeaten 96 as South Africa chased down 240 with seven wickets in hand to consign India to their first-ever defeat in Johannesburg.
In the 1st Test, KL Rahul (123 and 23) and Mohammed Shami (5/44, 3/63) shone with the bat and ball respectively. In the 2nd Test, Dean Elgar’s unbeaten 96 off 188 balls saw South Africa home while in the 3rd Test at Capetown, Keegan Petersen (72 and 82) coupled with Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada’s 7-wicket match haul denied India a series victory.
Rahul Dravid Impressed With India’s White Ball Cricket Performances
Shifting the focus to the other formats of the game, the head coach said that Team India has done rather well in ODIs and T20Is. India won 12 consecutive T20Is, a record with Afghanistan and Romania.
India’s winning run started in the 2021 T20 World Cup where they beat Afghanistan, Scotland, and Namibia in successive matches. Then, under Rohit Sharma, India clinched three consecutive series against New Zealand, West Indies, and Sri Lanka – all with a 3-0 margin.
He said: “Our white-ball cricket has been pretty good. We were able to come back from there (South Africa) and get on a bit of a roll in the T20 games. Even here (ongoing T20Is against South Africa), with a squad that doesn’t have a lot of our main players, we’ve been able to fight back brilliantly. It shows a lot of character in the team, the kind of quality and depth that we have.”
Before the IPL 2022, India beat West Indies at home in a limited-overs series. They also got the better of Sri Lanka in three T20Is and two Tests. They tied the five-match T20I series against Proteas 2-2 after the 5th T20I was abandoned after only 3.3 overs were possible.
Asked how excited he was to see young Indian talents coming through in IPL 2022, Rahul Dravid said: “It was fantastic and incredible to see the kind of talent that we have, especially in the fast bowling side of things, just to see the speed some of our bowlers were clocking.
“Young boys coming through. With two new teams on display this year, a lot more youngsters got a chance to show their skills rather than sitting on the bench. And a lot of them came good. Good signs for Indian cricket.”
Young fast bowlers Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh, who impressed during the IPL 2022, were picked in the squad for the ongoing series against South Africa. They have been retained for the two T20Is against Ireland as well.
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