Hyderabad: Following the end of his stint as India's head coach with T20 World Cup 2024, Rahul Dravid asserted that youngsters rising through the ranks and making it big on the global stage is the real tribute to the cricketing structure in India as a whole.
The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a video on BCCI. TV, featuring former India head coach Rahul Dravid who talked about his exciting two-and-a-half-year journey at the helm.
"In the last year or so we were able to give a lot of opportunities to young players in both red ball and white ball cricket and bring a lot of people into the side. Glad to see how quickly they adapted to international cricket and the kind of performance a lot of these young boys put in as soon as they came in. I think that's the real tribute to the system as well, the Ranji Trophy and the kind of domestic cricket that's being played," said Dravid.
"Some of them of course developed and stayed in the side a little bit longer, but some of them were there at the point of time where some seniors were resting and I am sure that they will get their opportunities. I think that's been the hardest thing," said Dravid on the challenges he faced and giving opportunities to youngsters.
The 51-year-old also asserted that he wants to create a secure environment for players and not make many changes in the squad as he believes that it creates a lot of chaos in the side.
"I am a part of a team whose responsibility is to create the right professional, safe and secure environment that doesn't have a fear of failure, but it's challenging enough to push people. I am someone who likes continuity and doesn't like to chop and change many things because I believe that it doesn't create a lot of stability and doesn't create a very good environment," Dravid said on his views on coaching responsibility.
He believed that his and coaching staff's real challenge was the five-match Test match series at home that Men in Blue won 4-1 earlier this year and asserted that it was their "best work". Notably, India's batting stalwart Virat Kohli had pulled out his name citing a personal reason and with KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja getting injured and because Men in Blue had to hand over debuts to youngsters like Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Paddikal, and Akash Deep Singh.
"The England series at this time at home, the whole thing of winning that series going down 1-0 and then losing a lot of players through injury and other reasons, having to count on a lot of young guys to come into the groups and then winning that series comprehensively 4-1, but also realising that we were tested and challenged as a coaching staff and as a group. I think there was a real feeling of us probably doing some of our best work during the series," added the former India captain.
Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, and Devdutt Paddikal played crucial innings to secure victories for India. Sarfaraz scored 200 runs in five innings at an average of 50, Jurel scored 190 runs in four innings, and Paddikal made 65 runs in his only innings in the series. In addition to the batters' performances, Akash Deep, who made his debut in the fourth test, performed exceptionally well by taking apart the England top-order with his pace bowling in Indian conditions. Having such talented players on the bench is a dream scenario for team management, with everyone striving to step up and fill the shoes of the legends.
