“Every tournament is critical. Every match I coached for India was very critical to me. For me, this match is not different just because it will be the last one I am responsible for,” he said when asked if this tournament had more significance because it was his last tournament in charge of the team.
The former India captain took charge of the team after the 2021 T20 World Cup.
“I love doing this job. I really enjoyed coaching India and I think it’s a really special job. I’ve enjoyed working with this team and they’re a great group of guys to work with, but yeah, but based on, unfortunately, just the type of schedules and where I’m at in my life, I don’t think I’ll be able to apply again.
“So yes, this will be my last game, but honestly, it’s no different for me. From the first day I took this job, I have always felt that every match is critical and every match matters and this will not change,” he assured. India will be aiming to win the elusive ICC trophy here and give the coach a perfect send-off.
Our options are: Dravid on the opening pair
The head coach kept his cards close to his chest when asked about India’s opening combination for the tournament. Rohit Sharma is expected to play alongside Virat Kohli, but Yashasvi Jaiswal is also an option.
“We have options, so obviously we won’t reveal our cards yet, but we certainly have them. We also have Rohit, Jaiswal and Virat open in the IPL.
“We chose the team keeping in mind that we have three options and we can choose whatever we want depending on the conditions and the type of combination in which we approach these matches,” Dravid said.
The scanner covered pitches with variable bounce and free space at a field in Nassau County. Dravid said his team has no complaints and will try to adapt to the prevailing conditions.
“We had three training sessions here. From the third session, the wicket became better. But a wicket is a wicket. We don’t want to judge it as bad or good. It’s a wicket and you have to deal with it and you have to adapt to it, so we won’t complain about the wicket.
The score of 200 was equal in the recently concluded IPL, but here it seems to be a winning score.
“When we talk about T20 cricket, maybe we won’t be able to play like that in this tournament. Maybe here. We hope to play in many places. It will be different there. So it will be critical to adapt.”
South Africa captain Aiden Markram also said after Monday’s low-scoring match against Sri Lanka that it was a hard surface to bat on. Dravid reiterated that his players will have to adapt to varying conditions.
“I didn’t watch today’s match. We’ll see the video. But the score was a bit too low (Sri Lanka got 77 points). I have no idea what exactly happened. But if that is the case, then you will have to fight and get 140.
“Maybe this will be the winning result. In some games, the winning score will be 200. So regardless of the score, you will have to react and adapt.”
“We played good cricket in world events.”
Dravid defended the players’ performance in the recent ICC events where the team failed to finish. India lost the WTC final and the ODI World Cup final to Australia last year, extending their title drought on the international stage. They last won the ICC title in 2013.
“Honestly, I think we played really well in these World Cup tournaments. In terms of our consistency, we have been very consistent,” Dravid said when asked if the previous defeats made the players better. prepared for this event.
“Obviously getting to the semi-final in Australia (2022). The World Test Championship is a bit different, it’s not one tournament but a whole series, but in this series you play exceptionally well to get there again.
“And then we know the Over-50 World Cup where they did great and got to the final. In terms of our consistency and the quality of cricket we played in these substantial tournaments, we were up there with some of the best teams.”
The team will once again strive to maintain this consistency and hopefully go all out this time, the coach said.
“Yes, we probably weren’t able to get over the line in the cup match. We probably just weren’t able to execute it in the last phase. So hopefully we can play some good cricket to get into those positions again and then maybe play some good cricket that day to get over the line.
“The critical thing is that when you start these tournaments, don’t think about that, just think about getting into those positions. You have to put yourself in positions where you fight for glory and that’s all you can do as a group and as a team,” Dravid said.
He also misses the hype that is usually associated with a world event, but he hoped that would change when India played their matches here.
“The confusion surrounding these events, of course, given that cricket is not, let’s say, one of the main sports in this country. So you don’t feel that kind of buzz here. But I hope that when our match starts and a lot of Indian fans start coming and you can see the same kind of excitement.”
