The leadership duo of Dravid and Rohit guided India to their second T20 World Cup title in 2024.
Former India head coach Rahul Dravid lauded former India captain Rohit Sharma, crediting the veteran opener for spearheading India’s transformation into one of the most aggressive batting units in T20I cricket.
The leadership duo of Dravid and Rohit guided India to their second T20 World Cup title in 2024 in the Caribbean, ending their 11-year ICC trophy drought. Under Rohit’s captaincy, India remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, winning seven out of eight matches, with one game against Canada ending in a no result.
Speaking on Breakfast with Champions, Dravid asserted that the current Indian side has redefined how T20 cricket is played to the point that other teams are now looking to emulate the Men in Blue.
“India is absolutely changing what T20 cricket is like. Indian batting in T20 cricket at the moment is off the charts. It’s close to 300 (runs per game), and everyone else in the world is now having to catch up. In the space of three or four years, you’re seeing that everyone’s looking at India and saying, ‘Shucks man, we’ve got to match this,’” Dravid said.
It has been evident in recent performances, including their top two best team totals of 297/6 against Bangladesh and 283/1 against South Africa last year. Since the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados, India have posted as many as nine 200+ totals in T20I cricket, underlining their dominance.
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Dravid, who worked closely with Rohit during his stint as India’s head coach, stated that the foundation of this transformation was laid through several discussions with the skipper Rohit regarding the change in mindset and adopting the modern T20 template.
“Certainly, from the time I came in, a lot of the discussion with Rohit was around how we wanted to play a more aggressive brand of cricket, and we tried (to do just that). We started right from the beginning because we could see that that’s the way the game was evolving, and Rohit’s got to take a large credit for that, right? To move the team in a particular direction. Play the game in a much more aggressive and a lot more positive manner. “I’m glad that India have sort of kept going in that direction to the point where India’s kind of lately,” Dravid said.
The former head coach further added that while the team management offered clarity and support, it was Rohit and the players who took ownership of the shift and executed it.
“It has to be driven by the leaders, right? It has to be driven by the captain. It has to be driven by the players because they’ve got to do it,” he said. “You might be giving them a certain amount of security, but in the end, they are the ones who’ve got to take those chances and take those risks.”
The transformation began in the aftermath of their 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final exit, where they lost to eventual champions England by 10 wickets. The changes weren’t just limited to T20I cricket, but also reflected in ODI cricket as well.
Post the 2022 T20 World Cup, India’s overall strike rate has surged to 147.86, significantly higher than 133.93, recorded since they started playing in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
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