New Delhi: Ever since Rahul Dravid became the Chief Coach of Team India, the Indian team has faced defeat in some major tournaments. It includes some tournaments like the 2022 Asia Cup, 2022 T20 World Cup and the final of the World Test Championship. Apart from this, the Indian team also had to face defeat in the tour of South Africa. Earlier during Ravi Shastri’s tenure, Team India, who took a 2-1 lead against England, had to face defeat again in the fifth Test.
Dravid gave his players ample opportunity to perform and always supported them. Ravi Shastri’s tenure saw many changes in the team. Players like Arshdeep Singh, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer got plenty of opportunities during Dravid’s tenure and today they are performing well and leading the team to victory. While Arshdeep has become a death over specialist, Gill is India’s future star. Shreyas has proven his mettle against pace and spin attacks.
Dravid himself was the greatest batsman of his time. He knows what it means to support a player and how much it benefits the team. However, since taking over as coach, he has also had to be responsible. They sometimes have to answer questions that don’t make any sense. Dravid says the hardest part of coaching is more than winning and losing.
Dravid said during an interview that you take personal care of all the people you coach and you try to build a personal relationship. You want to train them not as cricket players but as human beings. When you do this, you want them all to succeed. But at the same time you have to live in reality and understand that not all of them will succeed. Sometimes you have to make very difficult decisions.
Dravid further said, “Whenever we pick the playing XI, we let people down. There are people who don’t play. Whenever we select a playing eleven for a tournament, there are 15 players. Many players feel that they should have made the team.
You feel bad for those players on an emotional level, but we try. I’m not saying I’m an expert. I am not saying that I am always right because it affects the career of the players. That is the hardest part of coaching or leadership. You have to make tough decisions about the people you really want to see succeed. Because the rules force you to select only select players.
Dravid was the coach of the India A and Under-19 teams before taking over as the head coach of Team India. Dravid’s rapport with the junior players was much appreciated then. However, the situation is completely different in the Indian men’s senior cricket team. Here Dravid has to take decisions that not many people can take. Cheteshwar Pujara was dropped this year. Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma were dropped from the team last year. Apart from this, some big decisions like talking to Wriddhiman Saha about his future.
However, the conversation between Dravid and Saha about the future impressed everyone. In fact, Saha was clearly told that his place in Team India was no longer visible. However, the Indian head coach doesn’t think the decision was that easy. Dravid said, “There is no easy answer to this. I think I try to be honest with the situations that come before me. If there is sincerity in your communication and behavior with the players and if they think what you are. There is no political agenda or imagination to do it, so it is the best thing. It should be so.