New Delhi: Though India lost in the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup despite a 10-match winning streak, the team’s insistence of maintaining the same vibe within the dressing room facilitated their T20 World Cup triumph in June of this year, believes former coach Rahul Dravid.
India hosted the ODI World Cup and had a dream run up until the final where they were upended by Australia in Ahmedabad in November last year.
The Rohit Sharma led team shook off that disappointment in the Caribbean six months later, beating South Africa in the final to lift the T20 World Cup.
It was Dravid’s last assignment as the head coach as he signed off on a winning note after three and half years in charge of the national team.
Speaking about his experience of the two World Cups, Dravid said he and his support staff took extra effort to maintain the similar vibe and energy in the two big events.
“Honestly, I didn’t want to do anything different. I think we ran a fantastic campaign in the one-day World Cup, Rohit and the team, everyone involved in that one-day World Cup, we ran a superb campaign,” Dravid said at the Ceat Cricket Rating Awards in Mumbai on Wednesday night.
‘Same vibe, same team atmosphere’
The former India captain also pointed out that despite their best efforts, it is not always possible to win as they experienced it in the ODI World Cup final.
“There’s nothing we could have done more in terms of our preparation, the planning, the execution of what we needed to do for 10 games in a row to dominate, to win the game we did, play the game we did,” the former right hander said.
“I thought we ran a phenomenal campaign. We came unstuck in the final and Australia played better cricket than us on the day. They were a better team and congratulations (to them). That can happen in sport and that’s what sport is about,” he said.
But he and his support team were convinced they were on the right track and didn’t want to break the pattern of a lively dressing room.
“I did not want to change anything. If you’d asked me and we had a discussion with our support staff, we’d get together with the coaches and say, what do you think we should do differently?”
“The common consensus (among the team) was we need to do exactly what we did. We need to create the same energy, create the same vibe, the same team atmosphere that we had and then just hope that on the day, we’ll have a little bit of luck,” he said.
In his last assignment as the head coach of the Indian team, Rahul Dravid signed off on a winning note with a T20 World Cup triumph Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
