India finished their 2023 World Cup campaign as runners-up after losing to Australia in the final on Sunday, and, with that, coach Rahul Dravid’s two-year contract also officially ended. Dravid took over as coach of the Indian cricket team in November 2021 and took the team to the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinals, a World Test Championship final and the 2023 World Cup final. However, the 50-year-old hasn’t ‘thought’ about an extension yet as he was ‘completely focussed on this campaign’.
“I haven’t thought about it. Again, I’ve just come off a game. I have no time to think about this and no time to reflect on this. Yeah, I will when I get the time to do that. But at this point in time, I was completely focused on this campaign. It was focused on this World Cup, and there was nothing else on my mind. And I haven’t given any other thought to what happens in the future,” says Rahul Dravid at post-match presser.
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When asked about his tenure as the coach of the team, Dravid didn’t go into analysing mode and said he has enjoyed working with the Indian players across formats.
“I am not really someone who’s going to judge and analyse myself. But to be honest I’ve just like I said I was really proud to work with these players. I think the players that I worked with over the last two years in all the formats, really enjoyed working with them. And yeah, it’s been a privilege,” says Dravid.
India’s wait for the ICC trophy was extended after heartbreak in the final, but the Men in Blue will get another shot at it at next year’s T20 World Cup in West Indies and the USA. Will he be part of it? Dravid asserted he has no plans of “what’s going to happen in future”.
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“I think all our campaign, all our energies were focused on this match, focused on this tournament, and focused till here. And I haven’t actually given it any thought or I have no plans, I have had no plans of what’s going to happen in the future,” says Dravid.
Under Dravid, India had three proper shots at ICC titles but failed to cross the semis hurdle twice and fell short in the final once. The former India skipper explained what went wrong in each of those occasions and didn’t have “one particular reason” for India’s wait for the ICC title.
“I’ve been involved in three now, one semifinal, and the World Test Championship, and this one as well. I just think we haven’t played really well on the day. I mean, I thought we were a bit short in Adelaide, in the semifinal. We lost the first day in the World Test Championship, unfortunately. We didn’t bowl particularly well after Australia was three down there. And here we didn’t bat well enough in the first. So, yeah, there’s not one particular reason you can pin it down to,” says Dravid.
Speaking on the 2023 World Cup final, the coach said the team was looking forward to and very excited for this game but weren’t able to execute against a quality Australian side.
“I didn’t feel at any stage going into this game that there were any nerves or the guys were intimidated by the game or they were concerned about the game I think they were looking forward to it we were excited about the game. I thought there was energy and the mental space the boys were in leading into this particular game was spot-on was terrific. Just on the day we probably didn’t execute, and Australia played better than us,” says Dravid.
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