“Honeymoon Period Is Over…”: Ex-BCCI Selector on Coach Rahul Dravid’s Team India Tenure

Rahul Dravid faces an acid Test going into the T20 World Cup and former BCCI selector Saba Karim says that this is a ‘crunch time’ for him.

Ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia, which starts in mid-October, the Indian cricket team got a wake-up call in the Asia Cup. The Rahul Dravid-coached side could not enter the final after losses to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4. When Dravid was appointed the Indian cricket team head coach in 2021, expectations were really high from the batting great. Now, the former Indian cricket team captain faces an acid Test going into the T20 World Cup. Former BCCI selector Saba Karim says that this is a ‘crunch time’ for Dravid.

“Well, even Rahul Dravid is aware that the honeymoon period is over, and he is trying his best to be an alchemist but so far, such metals haven’t been converted into core. One would expect him to do that. This is crunch time for Rahul Dravid. With the World Cup T20 coming up, next year the ODI World Cup coming up. These two big ICC events, if India can win both these championships then only Rahul Dravid will be satisfied with the kind of inputs he has given to team India,” Saba Karim said on Sports18.

Karim, who played one Test and 34 ODIs, also spoke on Team India’s inconsistent results under Dravid’s coaching. “If given an option Rahul Dravid would love to have those Test series win in South Africa and the last Test match in England. He would love to swap that with so many bilateral wins that India has got under his belt. But that’s the nature of the challenges which Rahul Dravid has to face,” he said.

“See Rahul is sensible and intelligent enough to understand that the only way he can define a successful tenure of his coaching career is if India – number one, wins ICC events and number two it starts to win Test series in SENA countries. I’m not talking about Test wins. Test wins even while Rahul Dravid was playing, India has done that. But more importantly, when India starts to win in SENA countries, the Test series, that’s when Rahul Dravid will be very happy with team India’s performance.”