Dravid’s final opportunity to shed nearly-man tag

Rahul Dravid to remain India's head coach till T20 World Cup

Twenty-three years ago, on a sultry March day in Kolkata, Rahul Dravid played second lead in India’s greatest-ever Test victory. He scored 180 against Steve Waugh’s all-conquering Australia after being demoted to No. 6 in the batting order. VVS Laxman’s magnum opus, 281, overshadowed his innings.

Maybe, Dravid was destined to play second fiddle. On his Test debut at Lord’s in 1996, he scored a brilliantly polished 95, only to see Sourav Ganguly make 131 and grab all the column inches. Going along, as he became the ‘The Wall’ of the Indian team, he still couldn’t match Sachin Tendulkar’s popularity. Dravid made peace with the fact that he was the Karna of Indian cricket, while Tendulkar was the Arjuna.

An out-an-out team man, he never begrudged Tendulkar for that. Rather, he would jokingly say: “The whole of India becomes ecstatic at the fall of my wicket, for they know, Sachin is coming next.” Even as far as his trophy luck was concerned as a player, he was destined to be one of the game’s nearly men.

In 2000, India went to the ICC Champions Trophy (ICC KnockOut back then) final as overwhelming favourites against New Zealand. And when they posted 264-5 batting first, the game looked done and dusted. But Chris Cairns played a blinder – 102 not out off 113 balls – to pull off an upset.

Three years later, he was just one win away from lifting the World Cup. But Australia mauled India in the final at Johannesburg.

Dravid’s trophy luck didn’t change much after he became the India coach. In July 2022, India under his charge went to play the fifth Test against England in Birmingham, a game that had to be postponed a year ago due to a Covid-19 outbreak in the Indian camp. The tourists were 2-1 ahead under Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli when the series was stopped. A series win in England on the heels of a Test series triumph in Australia would have been a double whammy. But India lost the fifth Test and the series ended 2-2.

Last year, Dravid suffered World Test Championship (WTC) final heartbreak; an Indian team carrying IPL fatigue and completely unprepared for the occasion were hammered by Australia. The defeat to Australia in Ahmedabad in the 50-over World Cup final in November 2023 was a bigger setback. India were by far the best team of the tournament, winning every game on their way to the final. But they stumbled at the last hurdle.

If dropping Ravichandran Ashwin in the WTC final was a mistake, Dravid didn’t have a Plan B against Australia’s tactical masterclass – a 4-5 field without a mid-off – in the World Cup final. The great man will hang up his India coaching boots after the T20 World Cup. This is his last opportunity to shed the nearly-man tag.