Despite an amazing performance in the World Cup, India suffered a defeat at the grandest stage of cricket against the almighty Australia. In the post-match interview, head coach Rahul Dravid emphasized the batting and tried to safeguard the players from criticism.
In the World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad, India posted a below-average total of 240 runs Courtesy of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and K.L. Rahul. But after the match players like Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, and Surya were criticized for playing slow innings. They each played over 20 balls but their strike rates were below 65. Rahul played 107 balls to score 66 runs at a strike rate of 61.68 and was criticized by many fans and pundits for his slow performance.
Hence, in such a situation, the head coach of the Indian Cricket Team Rahul Dravid supported the players and claimed that the players didn’t play defensively but it was the demand of the circumstances and situation. Dravid acknowledged their approach was influenced by the specific dynamics of the game.
What Did Rahul Dravid Say?
According to Rahul Dravid, the Indian batsman didn’t play defensively. On the contrary, they started aggressively as India were 80/2 after 10 overs. But according to Dravid, sometimes players need to rebuild the innings after losing consecutive wickets and that is what exactly happened.
While chasing, Australia lost 3 wickets for 47 runs and within 7 overs. But Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne rebuilt their innings that ended up in a 192-run partnership. Travis Head scored 137 runs off 120 balls and Labuschagne supported him by scoring 58* off 110 balls.
India hasn’t won any ICC tournament since 2013. However, during this duration, India played the finals five times and India lost all of them one-sided. Australia defeated India for the second time in 2023 in a final. Prior to the World Cup, India and Australia faced each other in the ICC World Test Championship final and Australia won by 209 runs. Travis Head also scored a staggering 163 runs in that match against India.
When asked about Dravid’s future, he replied, “I have not given any thought to next year’s T20 World Cup, I don’t know what’s there in the future”. It is scheduled that the West Indies and the United States will host the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup from 4 June to 30 June 2024.
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