Former India head coach Rahul Dravid recalled the lowest point of his coaching tenure with the Indian cricket team as he rued not winning a Test series in South Africa.
Rahul Dravid took Team India to as many as three ICC title finals during his tenure as the head of the Indian cricket team. And, after the defeats against a strong Australia team, both the final clash in the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup back in 2023, head coach Rahul Dravid ended his stint on a winning note as Team India clinched the 2024 T20 World Cup Trophy on June 29 at Barbados, a second multi-nation trophy during his period with the team besides the Asia Cup haul in 2023. However, during his career, Dravid also endured some heartbreaking experiments, and the 2023 ODI World Cup loss was expected to top that list of his career, which was India’s only loss in the whole tournament.
In the same vein, the former India captain picked up the lowest point of his tenure as the opening assignment with the team. Back in 2021, after Team India’s crushing defeat in the 2021 T20 World Cup, when Virat Kohli-led India failed to make it to the knockout stage, Dravid succeeded Ravi Shastri as the new head coach of the Indian team.
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Rahul Dravid said that the Test Series loss to South Africa was his lowest point of his tenure. The 51-year-old cricketer feels that they had a great chance to win the second and third Tests after winning the first match to create history, but the hosts bounced back magnificently and beat Team India very closely. Notably, Rahul Dravid was appointed head coach in November 2021, just ahead of the South Africa tour. Team India began the tour well by winning the first Test by 113 runs in Centurion and were on the brink of winning their first ever series in South Africa. However, Proteas marked a remarkable comeback by winning the last two matches and keeping their unbeaten run against India at home intact.
“If you ask me what is the lowest point, I would say that the South Africa Test series early on in my career. We won the first Test match in South Africa in Centurion, and then we were playing in the second and third Test match. We have never won a series in South Africa, as you know. It was a really big opportunity for us to win that series. Some of our senior players were not there,” Dravid told Star Sports.
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