Amid all the speculation around who India's next head coach will be, the present in-charge Rahul Dravid has confirmed that the T20 World Cup will indeed be his last assignment, and that he will not re-apply for the role. (Full T20 WC Coverage | More Cricket News)
Gautam Gambhir is reportedly the front-runner for the top job, and the former India opener has gone on record to say he would love to coach the team.
Ahead of India's campaign opener against Ireland in New York, Dravid told the media about his decision. "It is going to be the last one that I am in charge of," the 51-year-old said.
"Unfortunately, the kind of schedules and where I find myself at this stage in my life, I don't think I'll be able to re-apply," he added.
When asked if the 2024 T20 World Cup will be more significant for him as it will be his final one as the coach, Dravid said: "Every tournament is important. Every game that I've coached for India has been very important for me. So for me this is no different just because it is going to be the last one that I'm in charge of."
He added, "I love doing the job. I've really enjoyed coaching India and I think it's a truly special job to do, and I enjoyed working with this team and it's a great bunch of boys to work with."
The T20 World Cup will be Dravid's last chance to be part of a world champion Indian side (as player or coach). Nevertheless, the legendary cricketer felt the team has done well at the global events, overall. "To be very honest, I think we've actually played really well in these World Cup tournaments.
"In terms of our consistency, we've been very consistent. Making the semi-final in the first, in the T20 one in Australia [in 2022]. The World Test Championship is slightly different in terms of it's not one tournament, but it's a whole cycle, but playing extremely well in the cycle to get to the final there again [in 2023].
The 50-over World Cup where we had a great run and went into the final [in 2023]. In terms of our consistency, in terms of the quality of cricket that we have played in these big tournaments, I think we've been right up there with some of the best teams," Dravid said.
"We can't say that we've not played good cricket in these tournaments. Yes, we probably haven't been able to get across the line in that one knockout game. The [2023 ODI] final in Ahmedabad or the [WTC final] game at The Oval and then again at Adelaide in the T20 semi-final. So we just probably haven't been able to execute in that last phase," he added.
