For Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid, for example, it is perhaps one of the most important matches of their respective tenures as captain and coach. Under Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli, India won almost every bilateral series that there was to win. The only thing missing was a major ICC Trophy. So, if Rohit and Dravid need to go one better, they need to win one between the World Test Championship (WTC) or the 50-over World Cup on home soil. Nothing else will suffice and both know it well.
During his playing career, the closest Dravid came to winning a major ICC trophy was in South Africa in 2003 when India lost to Australia in the final. While he won a world title with the U-19 team as a coach, winning it at the senior level is very different. It is an unfulfilled dream and something that drives him as coach.
Soon after the WTC final, India will also play the 50-over World Cup on home soil in October. Can Dravid steer the team to winning one of these tournaments? That’s what will define his legacy as coach. India haven’t won a major competition since 2013. To do so Dravid will have to ensure there are no cracks in the wall.
“I can tell you I was the most grumpy at the end of a day’s play if I had dropped a catch which I believed could have been taken. Much more than getting out for zero, dropping a catch made me really upset and grumpy. Getting out early was more of a personal disappointment. Yes, the runs were for the team and all but still it was more personal than anything else. But dropping a catch meant I was not able to do something for a teammate and that upset me more. A catch allows you to enjoy as a team and be happy at someone else’s success and that’s what team sport is all about,” Dravid had told this writer at a corporate event just before he took over as head coach.
From the above statement, two things are clear. First, Dravid has always attempted to ensure individual egos and fancies don’t take precedence in the dressing room. Second, he has forever pushed the boys to do things that may not get them the headline the following morning but could benefit the team. He will have to do both in equal measure this week if India have to go past Australia. If it’s crunch time for coach Dravid, the stakes are even higher for captain Rohit. This is the one format he values the most. And for a while now Rohit has been obsessed about winning a world title. “The five hundreds really don’t mean anything,” Rohit had told this writer in a very matter-of-fact manner after India’s loss to New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semi-final.“Personally, it is a great achievement but when you are playing a team sport it is never about personal milestones. When I reached home after the World Cup and everyone was congratulating me for the hundreds, I did not feel any elation. The real prize was in the England dressing room and it was difficult to accept that we had not made the final.”After a pause, he added, “World event jeetna hai. (Have to win a world event.) This is one obsession we have to fulfil.”
As one of the most successful captains in franchise cricket, Rohit knows how to win. For him to come close multiple times and not have a world title to show for in the last few years is not something he can accept. “Unless we win a world title, I will be very disappointed,” he was forthright.
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