Ravi Shastri, the former coach of the Indian cricket team, has defended his successor Rahul Dravid by stating that Dravid needs more time before his performance is evaluated. Although expectations were high when Dravid took over as India’s head coach in November 2021, the team’s performance in the first 16 months has been lackluster, with losses in both the Test and ODI series in South Africa, as well as the rescheduled fifth Test against England at Edgbaston.
After taking over from Ravi Shastri, who had a successful stint as India’s head coach, Rahul Dravid has a lot to live up to. Under Shastri’s leadership, India performed remarkably well in international competitions. They won two-Test series in Australia, one in Sri Lanka, and one in the West Indies. In addition, they were leading 2-1 in the Test series in England in 2021 before the final Test was abandoned due to a COVID-19 scare in the visiting team’s camp.
Rahul Dravid has a advantage says former coach
“It takes time. It took me time and it’s going to take him time too. But Rahul has an advantage that he was at the NCA, he was with the A team as well and now he’s here too. He is experienced with contemporary cricketer players and with the system. Give him time,” Shastri said in an interview with Sports Tak.
People in India, according to Shastri, only care about winning trophies until they don’t. He backed up his point by citing India’s Asia Cup victories in 2016 and 2018 under his leadership.
“In our country, public memory is short. If you have to win, you have to win. During my tenure, we won two Asia Cups, but no one remembers. Has anyone mentioned the Asia Cup? We’ve won it twice. And no one talks about it. But when we lose in the Asia Cup, then the tournament comes into the picture. Why?” he added.
“emphasis should be on the 50-over format” says Shastri
After the 2023 ODI World Cup, Dravid’s contract is expected to end, and his extension is likely to depend on India’s performance in the tournament on their home turf. Shastri also emphasized the need for the Indian team to prioritize playing more matches in the same format as the World Cup, depending on the tournament’s format that year.
“There is too much cricket. The volume of cricket is so much. For all you know, India might be playing a Test series somewhere but a T20 tournament is going on somewhere else with an Indian team. Many times when I was coach, we were in one country, India were in another country playing Sri Lanka or someone proper. You have to see what is important in that year and accordingly get the players to primarily focus on playing those games. So, if there’s a World Cup of 50-over cricket coming, emphasis should be on the 50-over format. If it’s a T20 World Cup year, emphasis should be on that format and you have to decide who your nucleus of 15-18 players are and they should be playing,” he said.
