INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Dravid's two-year contract expired on Sunday, but no word on any extension yetAHMEDABAD: You would be lucky to play in the final of the
However, if you are destined to have been a part of two, in whatever capacity, you would be considered special
Rahul Dravid, who was the vice-captain of the Indian team that lost to Australia in the 2003 final, now has the honour of coaching Indiain
another 50-over World Cup.One is not sure if he will continue in the role of coach, since his two-year contract ends as of November 20
Assuming that Sunday was his last day at work, he went about his job as if it was just another day at the office.World Cup 2023 Final:
Australia beat India by 6 wickets to win record-extending sixth titleHe and fielding coach T Dilip were among the first to walk into a
buzzying ground around noon
Like he has always done right through the tournament, he walked straight to the pitch, touched it with his palms from one end, walked to the
other end, bent down and touched it from there too
Skipper Rohit walked in, saw the pitch, and walked up to Dravid to have a chat
A brief conversation later, the two separated as Dravid took his usual spot behind the stumps on the practice pitches and watched his boys
warmup one final time before the biggest match of their lives in front of the biggest home crowd
Australia head coach Andrew McDonald and George Bailey had strolled to the pitch before and greeted Dravid
A cursory handshake later, Dravid walked up to Ashwin, who was warming up and said a few words
What were they discussing? Ashwin walked up to the match strip, marked a few spots and that got the attention of Bailey and Marcus Stoinis,
who was loading up to bowl a few deliveries
Was it a trojan horse? A team huddle ensued, shoulder to shoulder, real tight
Huddle over, another word between Dravid and Ashwin
A nod from the champion offie, a pat on the shoulder from the coach
Was he playing? Of course not
Those words were probably to comfort Ashwin, who has played in only one game, the first one against Australia in Chennai
If it was an act, it was a brilliant one, like the one he has been staging all through the last year, experimenting with the team, trying
different players in different positions, like he has done in his IPL avatar in charge of first Rajasthan Royals and then Delhi Daredevils
Partly it was compulsion as some key players were injured
Partly it was because he wanted to create a back-up for the World Cup, just in case those players did not regain fitness
He was ready to risk defeats in bilaterals in the quest of building a core and building back-ups
Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj
Dravid coached the India Under-19 team, led by Kishan with players like Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan in the
side to the World Cup final in Dhaka in 2016 and ended up as second-best as India were beaten by the West Indies
He finally got his hands on some silverware two years later, when under Prithvi Shaw, the colts first won the World Cup in New Zealand
As Under-19 coach, he also made a rule that a player can feature in only one under-19 World Cup after recognizing that age fraud was one of
the biggest cancers plaguing Indian cricket
Dhoni had got out for a first ball duck and reports emerged that miscreants had pelted stones at his home in Ranchi and had damaged the name
In that huddle, one is sure he would have said something similar to his boys.Watch'Biggest Moment of my Career': Rohit Sharma's Press
Conference Before World Cup Finals Vs Australia
