Team India's Records Under Rahul Dravid's Coaching

In November 2021, when Ravi Shastri was replaced by Dravid, and many things were expected of him including the wait for an ICC trophy for India. Dravid and his team came close it, twice but the silverware eluded him.

Dravid’s stint wasn’t just about missed opportunities. India registered two big test series wins against Australia and England at home and also under him Team India made it to their second straight World Test Championship final. Wins in the bilateral series continued, and India even won the Asia Cup for the eighth time, last year. As Dravid prepares for his final series as coach of the national team, there can be no better send-off for one of India's most decorated cricketers than leaving on the high of winning the T20 World Cup trophy.

Considering Dravid's time in retrospect, one can ask, "What precisely defines the success value of a coach?" Is it taking home awards? or the bigger picture... his contributions? Parthiv Patel believes that Dravid's greatest accomplishment would be the fact that he went above and beyond to make sure Indian cricket is in good hands, even though he would have loved to add a few ICC titles to his coaching record. The Wall put a lot of effort into a few key areas, which Dravid's former Indian teammate Parthiv pointed out as being important for the Indian cricket team in the long run.

"As a coach, you want to win the trophy, but another factor is what kind of culture you want to imbibe within the team. What kind of cricket do you want to play? And the biggest example of that was India's attacking style during the World Cup. There were question marks about whether they could, but Team India constantly did it. One bad day and India couldn't win the World Cup. In Tests, they lost the WTC final. But they reached the final under him," Parthiv told Cricbuzz.

Dravid may not have seen the same level of success with the senior men's side as he did with the India A and India Under-19 squads, but he still has an excellent eye for identifying young players with promise. In addition to earning their Test caps, players such as Sarfaraz Khan, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, and Devdutt Padikkal are already in line to step into the spotlight when the current group of elite players decides to retire. Finding and developing potential is not everyone's forte, and Parthiv thinks Dravid excelled in this area the most.

"Also look at the new players that came in. Following Rishabh Pant among the wicketkeepers, Dhruv Jurel made an announcement. After Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj, some of the best pacers were Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar. The spinners are even arranged. Rahul Dravid handled everything that needed to be done expertly. Shubman Gill became your No. 3 batter, which is a big change, and Yashasvi Jaiswal was the top run scorer against England. In the series that India won, Virat Kohli wasn't your No. 1 batter. Thus, Rahul Dravid would be remembered for a lot of good things," the former India wicketkeeper said.