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Former India head coach Rahul Dravid has recently shared his reflections on the most challenging period of his coaching career. Dravid identified the 2021-22 tour of South Africa as his career’s lowest point, highlighting the missed opportunity to secure India’s first Test series win in the country.
During the tour, India faced South Africa in a three-match Test series. After clinching a victory in the first Test at Centurion, the Indian team faltered in the subsequent two matches despite holding strong positions, ultimately missing out on the series win.
Rahul Dravid speaks about the lowest point of his career as India head coach
In a discussion with Star Sports, Rahul Dravid opened up about the most challenging moment of his coaching career with India. He recounted the 2021-22 tour of South Africa, where despite a strong start and the opportunity to secure India’s first-ever Test series win in South Africa, the team ultimately fell short. Dravid emphasized that this period represented a significant disappointment, as India was in a dominant position but failed to capitalize on it.
“I think it’s a really good question. If you ask me what was the lowest point, I would say the South Africa Test series early on in my career. We won the first Test match in South Africa in Centurion and then we were playing the second and third Test match. We had never won a series in South Africa. That was a really big opportunity for us to win that series,” Dravid said.
Dravid also recalled that, despite the absence of key senior players, India failed to secure victory in crucial moments. He praised South Africa for their exceptional performance, particularly their ability to successfully chase down the targets in both Tests.
“Some of out senior players were not there. Rohit Sharma was injured. We didn’t have some senior players in that series. But we were very close and in both the Test matches, the second and the third Test match, in the third innings, we were very close. We had a big opportunity. We could have set a decent score and won the game but South Africa played well. They chased back in fourth innings.”
“I would say that was probably my lowest point in my coaching thing of not being able to win that series inspite of being ahead. But there were lot of learnings from that. (There are) a lot of those experiences where we learnt a lot about our team. We learnt a lot about things that we need to do,” Dravid revealed.
Rahul Dravid discusses the impact and significance of coaches in international cricket teams.
Dravid elaborated on the crucial role of coaches, emphasizing the importance of grasping the nuances of international cricket. He highlighted that teams cannot expect to win all the time and must learn to handle and accept defeats gracefully.
“So I think as coaches, what is very important is you will go through ups and downs but you have to maintain that balance to realize that you can’t always win games. Other teams have also come to play. You are playing against some world-class sides and you have no right to always win,” Dravid said.
“You have a right to prepare well. You have a right to your processes. You have a right to do the right preparation, pick the right teams, prepare your team well. But even inspite of that, some days you lose and you have to learn how to keep a balance and lifting your team and keep lifting the morale of your side,” the former India captain added.
India failed to win a Test series in South Africa
During the 2021-22 tour of South Africa, India initially appeared poised to secure their first-ever Test series win in South Africa after a commanding 113-run victory at Centurion in the opening Test.
However, the series took a turn when Virat Kohli missed the second Test in Johannesburg due to back spasms. Despite setting South Africa a challenging target of 240 runs, the hosts managed to chase it down with three wickets remaining, thanks to a resilient 96 from Dean Elgar. KL Rahul captained India during this match.
In the third Test at Cape Town, Kohli returned, but the result was similar. India set a target of 212 runs in the final innings, but South Africa chased it down comfortably, losing only seven wickets. Keegan Petersen’s superb 82, along with contributions from other batters, secured a series victory for South Africa by 2-1.
