Dravid’s moment of reckoning

"Welcome Rahul Dravid. The expectations are high but then they always were with you," tweeted noted cricket broadcaster Harsha Bhogle, when the Karnataka stalwart was appointed the Indian men's cricket team coach in November 2021. Bhogle might well have been speaking for the entire Indian cricket fraternity, for Dravid came in with a resume that few could have matched. His credentials in all the roles he had essayed before -- as player, captain, coach of the developmental teams (under-19 and India A) and the National Cricket Academy head -- made him the natural successor to Ravi Shastri, who oversaw some of India's greatest victories, both home and away.

With over 24,000 international runs, few could question Dravd's standing as one of India's finest batsmen while as regular captain, he enjoyed great success in the short period he helmed the team between 2005 and 2007. It was under him that India ended their 35-year wait for a Test series win in the West Indies in 2006 while the following year, he led them to their first series win in England in 21 years. India have since gone 16 years without another series win in England. Under his captaincy, India also conjured up 17 successful run chases on the trot in ODI cricket, a record which is still intact. He also won a Test in South Africa and led India to a Test series win in Pakistan in 2004 as a stand-in captain when Sourav Ganguly missed the first two games through injury.

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Post retirement, Dravid took up the task of coaching the India U-19 and 'A' sides with aplomb. A number of talented batters and bowlers came to the fore under his tutelage, several of whom are either an integral part of the current set-up or are knocking hard on the doors of the senior national team.

A Test stalwart who eventually stacked up over 10,000 ODI runs and dabbled long enough in the Indian Premier League to understand the nuances of T20 cricket, Dravid was the right man to take the team forward at a crucial juncture. Under the Shastri-Virat Kohli combine, the team had endured some heart-breaking losses (Test series loss in South Africa in 2018 and group-stage exit in the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE) but also enjoyed heady successes (back-to-back Test series wins in Australia, making it to the inaugural WTC Final, leading England 2-1 in the 2020-21 Test series).

The Kohli-Shastri side had all the qualities to become a great team but lacked the consistency of the erstwhile West Indian or Australian teams. While it's unlikely that cricket will ever see teams of such aura, of such confidence and consistency, given the amount of international and franchise cricket that is being played today, the Indian team that Dravid inherited had all the makings of modern-day giants.

All it needed was a new direction, fresh ideas and a bold approach. During the course of his tenure of just over a year-and-a-half, it must be said that Dravid has overseen more lows than highs, more misses than hits. While he didn't join the team with a warranty card of a certain amount of success, lack of sustained team results wasn’t something one had bargained for.

After barely managing to beat New Zealand at home in his first series in charge, India had the best opportunity to win a Test series in South Africa but somehow contrived to lose 1-2 after taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match rubber, culminating in Kohli relinquishing the Test captaincy and Rohit Sharma assuming the reins in all three formats.

Rohit came in with an excellent reputation as a skipper, having led Mumbai Indians to five IPL titles, besides captaining India to the Asia Cup and the Nidahas Trophy triumphs as a stand-in for Kohli. The coming together of Rohit and Dravid, two of the finest cricketing brains, was a dream combine that promised the moon but so far has fallen agonisingly short of expectations. To be fair to the captain-coach duo, they have spoken about and tried to change the philosophy of the team in tune with the needs of the times, especially in white-ball cricket, but either blame it on resources in the set-up or half-hearted attempts, the promise has remained unfulfilled.

While India had done well enough to earn respect as good travellers during the Shastri-Kohli era, an ICC Trophy still eluded them. They had missed out on three opportunities (2019 50-over World Cup, 2021 WTC Final and 2021 T20 World Cup) and appeared to lack the foresight - for example, not having a settled No. 4 batter during the 2019 World Cup - that invariably hurt them at ICC events. While bilateral series offered them chances to paper over these lacunas, they stood exposed during knockouts as the all-powerful captain seemed to act on whims and fancies.

Dravid was expected to plug that loophole and help the team get across the line. Two opportunities have gone by now (2022 T20 World Cup and the WTC Final earlier this month) and the 50-over World Cup at home in October-November offers the former India captain one final chance to redeem himself before his two-year contract comes to an end. If one were to be totally honest, Dravid's strategies haven't yielded the desired results due to a combination of factors. He had to operate without India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah - arguably the country’s most valuable asset in its overseas success, though Bumrah was very much in the mix when India failed to defend 378 in the delayed final Test against England in Birmingham last year. Around the time Dravid took over, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara became dispensable, Kohli continued to struggle, Rishabh Pant's absence from the start of this year robbed the team of the X-factor and Rohit grappled equally with inconsistency and injuries.

That said, it won't be unfair to say that Dravid can't completely escape blame for the team's under-achievement, notwithstanding its 2-1 series win over Australia on designer pitches. As a captain, Dravid saw the worst - like the 2007 World Cup debacle - but as a coach, it must be more frustrating because he isn't directly in control of things in the middle. But then, that's the lot of coaches. Unlike at the developmental stage, you will be judged by the results you deliver at the highest level. And so will Dravid be.