Rahul Dravid, the former Indian captain, who was appointed as the head coach of the national team in November 2021, has had a tough run of results in the last 18 months in big series and tournaments. On June 11, Sunday, following the World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2023 loss to Australia by a massive margin of 209 runs at The Oval in London, the pressure is starting to mount on him in relation to his coaching job from the Indian cricket fraternity.
During the last 18 months as head coach, Rahul Dravid has seen India lose the Test series in South Africa by 2-1 in the 2021/22 season, after dominating the home side in the first Test match. Shortly afterwards, the Proteas whitewashed Indians in the ODI series at home by 3-0. The next big loss happened against England at the Edgbaston in Birmingham in the fifth Test match in 2022, which led to Team India drawing the Test series by a 2-2 margin.
In September 2022, India lost one of the two T20I matches against Pakistan in the Asia Cup to make a shock exit from the tournament before reaching the final. Later in the same year, in the T20 World Cup, Team India managed to sneak into the semi-final stage only to get beaten by England with a 10-wicket margin. They also lost the ODI series in Bangladesh by 2-1 to end the year under the coaching of the legendary Indian cricketer.
Rahul Dravid coaching results in big tournaments for Team India :
When you couple these results with the salary in the range of INR 10 crore, which the 50-year-old takes to provide coaching to Team India every year, the patience among the Indian cricket fraternity is fast running thin in relation to his tenure at the helm.
In the same vein, there have been many questions asked about Rahul Dravid’s error-prone tactics and strategies as a coach by experts and fans alike. The biggest points of reference are the inconsistency in team selections, regular injuries to big players, multiple captains in different formats, and persisting with underperforming players, among others.
Now, with the home ODI World Cup just four short months away from starting, Rahul Dravid needs to deliver that elusive ICC trophy, which the BCCI had expected him to do before giving him the Indian coaching job. Otherwise, it is highly likely that he won’t be providing his services to the national team as a head coach in favour of new management with a fresh vision for Team India.
