Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid may have been successful in making Team India win the T20 World Cup 2024 title during his coaching, but even today he regrets not being able to win the Test series on South African soil. Team India progressed a lot under Dravid’s coaching and won the T20 World Cup title played on the soil of West Indies and USA this year, but he still regrets not being able to win the Test series on the South Africa tour. He has termed it as the most difficult phase of his coaching tenure.
Rahul Dravid was appointed the coach of Team India in November 2021 and Team India’s tour of South Africa was his first major assignment as a coach. Team India started this Test series with a spectacular victory but lost the series by losing the last two Tests. India had a chance to win the series for the first time on South African soil but the team missed out on creating history.
It was a great opportunity to win the series
Dravid told Star Sports, “If you ask me which was my toughest phase, I would say the Test series in South Africa at the beginning of my career. We won the first Test match in Centurion in South Africa and then we played the second and third Test matches. As you know, we have never won a Test series in South Africa. It was a really big opportunity for us to win that series. Some of our senior players were not there.”
The series did not feature many big names like Rohit Sharma which added to the challenge for the team. Still, Rahul Dravid believed that the team had the ability to overcome these obstacles. KL Rahul was made captain in the second Test as Virat Kohli was banned for one match for slow over-rate. In the second Test, Team India set a target of 240 which South Africa achieved. The third and final Test also saw similar disappointment, with the hosts successfully chasing 212 to clinch the series.
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