The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah has sent a strong message to India’s head coach Rahul Dravid ahead of Asia Cup 2023 and World Cup 2023. In a meeting that lasted nearly two hours in Miami, Florida, Shah reinforced how important it is for India to win World Cup that it is hosting in October-November. India have had underwhelming performances over the last few years in ICC and multi-national events. The recent series loss to West Indies in T20s has also not gone down well with fans as well as former cricketers.
To put it mildly, Rahul Dravid is now under pressure to deliver. While he may not lose his job if India don’t win Asia Cup 2023, he will certainly if India can’t end a 10-year ICC trophy drought and win World Cup 2023.
As per Cricbuzz, Rahul Dravid drove down to meet the BCCI secretary before the last two IND vs WI T20s in Florida. Jay Shah was visiting Miami in a personal capacity.
Why Jay Shah meeting Rahul Dravid is warning sign?
- Rahul Dravid is the costliest India coach. He replaced Ravi Shastri who won India two Border-Gavaskar trophies in Australia.
- However, under Dravid, India have only identified itself as a bilateral bully.
- India failed to win the 5th Test in England and ended up drawing the Test series.
- Under Dravid, India have lost one WTC Final to Australia.
- India lost Asia Cup T20 last year and could not even reach the final of the tournament.
- There was another humiliation waiting in T20 World Cup as England hammered India by 10 wickets.
- India lost to West Indies away (T20), Bangladesh away (ODI) and South Africa (Test & ODI).
- The only significant performance has been at home against all opponents.
While Rahul Dravid cannot be blamed alone due to frequent injuries to important players, the lack of results is telling. But with Asia Cup 2023 and World Cup 2023 approaching, the team is still unsettled.
Hence, it is only natural that the board secretary wants assurance from the head coach. As things stand, failure is not an option.
Former players like Venkatesh Prasad, who has been Rahul Dravid’s teammate in Karnataka and India, has been vocal critic. He criticised the inconsistency in team selection as well as lack of intensity.
What has gone wrong for India cricket team?
Workload management: While it’s important to manage workload, NCA hasn’t done anything to help the situation. With frequent and repeated injuries, Dravid has had to work with depleted squads in almost all series including Asia Cup 2022 and World Cup 2022. KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah all have suffered frequent long injuries.
Multiple captains: To make things worse, Rahul Dravid never had consistency in terms of captains. He has had to work with 8 captains in his tenure across three formats.
Excessive rotation: With workload management, India have had to rotate squad frequently. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been the two most rested players.
Inconsistency in selection: However, where Rahul Dravid and the selection committee have to take the blame is in selection. Sanju Samson never got the backing barring West Indies tour and it’s still unclear which role he is fit for. In ODIs, despite repeated failures, Suryakumar Yadav has been backed. R Ashwin was brought back for ODIs but with an ODI WC in India, he is not in the picture. Mohammad Shami was not in T20 plans, but he was brought back along with Ashwin.
Lack of long-term vision: Ajinkya Rahane was brought back and he was made the vice-captain for West Indies Test series. Now, it’s doubtful whether he will get another go. Bumrah, Pant, Hardik and Chetshwar Pujara have all filled in the spot. But there is no answer to the question on who will succeed Rohit Sharma as India captain.
