He’s unlikely to get an extension if issues go awry within the ODI World Cup later this 12 months. Perhaps he’ll himself not search an extension because the strain of not having the ability to ship is writ massive on his face.
In Indian cricket, it’s an open secret that Dravid, a gutsy, fearless participant of fast-bowling in his taking part in days, is somebody who resorts to obfuscation when confronted with probing questions as a coach.
It’s fairly a distinction in comparison with his predecessor Ravi Shastri, who would take questions head on and provides a direct reply whether or not you preferred it or not.
The irritation refused to depart the contours of Dravid’s facial features as his former teammate Sourav Ganguly requested a pointed query on air minutes after India had comprehensively misplaced the World Take a look at Championship remaining to Australia.
“Rahul, you have got been a legend however why do you assume a few of our top-order batters (Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma) have struggled exterior sub-continent a lot of the instances?” the previous India captain requested throughout an interview on Star Sports activities.
“We have now skilled gamers in prime 5 and so they have set excessive requirements. These are the boys who can be referred to as legends in future. They’ve received two collection in Australia and received Take a look at matches in England. We’re doing the most effective we will,” Dravid’s reply could not have satisfied Ganguly one bit and neither did the hundreds of thousands who had been streaming in.
However that has been the case with Dravid throughout his close to two-year tenure with the senior Indian workforce. He has by no means regarded convincing as a tactician and all of the fanfare that was related along with his elevation, and the notion that every thing that’s improper with the workforce can be mounted, turned out to be an phantasm.
The seeds of India’s defeat in opposition to Australia had been sown in Nagpur, Delhi and Indore the place the workforce performed on under-prepared tracks simply to rake residence WTC factors.
Neither the batters gained sufficient confidence nor the pacers got here into operation for the higher a part of the collection as Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja did what they do finest — scare the daylights out of the opposition.
The short-term acquire was one other WTC remaining however the long-term loss has been the dearth of type of prime batters and little or no match time for the premier pacers.
As Harbhajan Singh rightly identified, “In case your video games are ending in two and half days, the pacers won’t ever come into play. You might be even killing reverse swing as possibility as a result of the matches aren’t lasting that lengthy. We’re not having tracks the place our batters may rating 500 and bowlers must work exhausting to get 20 wickets.”
Dravid’s defensive mindset began in 2021, simply after taking on when the Indian spinners could not bowl out New Zealand on the fifth day on a low and gradual Kanpur monitor. Ashwin and Jadeja could not get out the final pair for near 10 overs and the match was drawn.
Dravid knew then and there that he cannot play on good or gradual batting tracks if India must qualify for the finals and the raging turners did dent the arrogance of his batters.
If Jasprit Bumrah’s harm and Rishabh Pant’s accident are two unfortunate occasions that had had its affect, one cannot deny that Dravid is a coach who’s averse to taking dangers. He’s additionally somebody who just isn’t eager on hauling up the senior gamers after they aren’t executing the plans completely.
An instance was Ravindra Jadeja persistently bowling over the wicket to Jonny Bairstow at Edgbaston in 2022, when England had been chasing a stiff goal. Over after over, Jadeja was bowling on Bairstow’s leg on the ultimate afternoon of the match and it dominated out the potential for a leg earlier than.
There was no such incident to recommend that Dravid had despatched a message for first-time skipper Jasprit Bumrah, asking him to vary the tactic.
There are two forms of coaches — one on the academies and pathways degree (U-16, U-19, A workforce) and the opposite on the senior degree — the place man administration and tactical tweaks rule the roost.
Dravid was an distinctive head of Cricket at NCA the place he ready a profitable India U-19 and A tour programme, which has out of the blue gone off the boil within the final one 12 months.
The issue is that from India A tour programme, a lot of the performers aren’t anticipated to get an elevation until they’ve an distinctive season like Mayank Agarwal did in 2018, or a expertise like Rishabh Pant, who must be blooded.
Dravid did take powerful calls when he pulled the curtains down on the profession of Wriddhiman Saha and Ishant Sharma as he wished to groom Kona Bharat and Prasidh Krishna in these roles. A specialist keeper and a tall hit-the-deck quick bowler.
However Prasidh acquired injured and hardly performed whereas Bharat’s batting confirmed that Saha, even at 40, is a better option.
Saha, thought of a Take a look at specialist, was most popular at his IPL franchise Gujarat Titans franchise over Bharat by Ashish Nehra, who goes extra by instincts and fewer by match-ups and analytics.
There’s a gutsy India A keeper in Upendra Yadav, who’s a greater batter than Bharat however he has not even been thought of. Ishan Kishan may have been a dangerous however out-of-the-box selection who may have been extra profitable as a batter. A minimum of he may have been tried, nevertheless it was to not be.
Taking part in Umesh Yadav, who was injured for a greater a part of IPL and isn’t among the many prime three selections of pacer even in abroad situations, is one other instance of how the India A system is flawed.
The bowler best for English situations was Mukesh Kumar, a terrific performer at India A degree and a potent seam and swing exponent.
When it has come to alternatives, India have gone again to Cheteshwar Pujara due to his English county efficiency in 2022 and 2023, however for the file, all those that monitor county cricket would swear that the Division 2 the place he plies his commerce for Sussex is not precisely an indicator of excellent type with very common bowlers in a lot of the sides. Not one of the prime English Take a look at gamers play in Division 2.
India can be travelling to the West Indies in a month for the beginning of subsequent cycle of WTC. Will Dravid be capable to crack the whip and put together a workforce for subsequent two years as some like Rohit, Kohli and Pujara are now not the power they was and are on the enterprise finish of their careers.
Can Dravid take the danger of constructing a brand new workforce on the expense of a WTC remaining berth or he would assume that in 2024 India will play 10 Checks in opposition to England (residence) and Australia (away) and retain the tried and examined faces?
Solely Dravid has the solutions.
