On the eve of India’s T20 World Cup campaign opener against Ireland in New York on Wednesday, head coach Rahul Dravid has confirmed that the tournament will be his final assignment with the national team, and he won’t be applying for the position again.

Dravid’s comments came as expected, but this was the first official confirmation that India will have a new coach come July. His confirmation came when he was asked if this World Cup was going to hold extra importance for him.

“Every tournament is important. Every game that I’ve coached for India has been very important for me. For me, this is no different just because it is going to be the last one that I’m in charge of. I love doing the job. I’ve really enjoyed coaching India, and I think it’s a truly special job to do. I’ve enjoyed working with this team, and it’s a great bunch of boys to work with,” the former India captain said.

“Unfortunately, just the kind of schedules (that are in place in international cricket) and where I find myself in this stage in my life, I don’t think I’ll be able to re-apply,” he confirmed.

However, Dravid stressed on the importance of carrying on with the same intensity in his final assignment as India aim to end the decade-long ICC title triumph at the 2024 T20 World Cup, co-hosted by the US and the West Indies.

“Having said that, it’s no different for me to be very honest. I don’t see this anything particularly different or significant. From the first day I took the job, I always felt that every game was important and every game mattered, and that will not change,” Dravid said.

Dravid took over as the head coach in November 2021 and his original contract with the national side was till the end of the 2023 ODI World Cup, but was handed an extension to June 2024 after the team managed to produce a near-perfect campaign until the loss to Australia in the ODI World Cup final.

In April, the BCCI had invited applications for the head coach job following the T20 World Cup. Back then, the BCCI secretary Jay Shah had stated that Dravid can re-apply for the role but the latter on Monday deemed it unlikely. The board has so far received close to 3,000 applications for the role, but former India opener Gautam Gambhir is widely speculated to succeed Dravid, although it is still not confirmed whether the two-time World Cup winner has applied for the position.

Consistency the key

Meanwhile, Dravid also spoke on the importance of being consistent in such big-ticket tournaments, and praised his team’s effort for a blemish-free run in the past two World Cups (T20 WC 2022 and 2023 ODI WC) under him, even as he expects the side to finally win that crucial knockout in the Americas.

“To be very honest, I think we’ve actually played really well in these World Cup tournaments. In terms of our consistency, we’ve been very consistent. Making the semi-final in the first, in the T20 one in Australia (in 2022). The World Test Championship is slightly different in terms of it’s not one tournament, but it’s a whole cycle, but playing extremely well in the cycle to get to the final there again (in 2023). The 50-over World Cup where we had a great run and went into the final (in 2023). In terms of our consistency, in terms of the quality of cricket that we have played in these big tournaments, I think we’ve been right up there with some of the best teams,” he said.

“We can’t say that we’ve not played good cricket in these tournaments. Yes, we probably haven’t been able to get across the line in that one knockout game. The (2023 ODI) final in Ahmedabad or the (WTC final) game at The Oval and then again at Adelaide in the T20 semi-final. So we just probably haven’t been able to execute in that last phase.”

“Hopefully we play good cricket to get ourselves into those positions again. Then maybe play good cricket on the day to get across the line. But the important thing when you start these tournaments is not to think about that. It is to actually think about getting into those positions again. I think that’s as hard as actually winning those games at times. You have to find yourselves in those positions where you are pushing for glory, and that’s all you can do as a group and as a team. Our whole goal will be to try and get ourselves once again into a position where we give ourselves a chance to be able to, um, win a tournament,” he added.

Dravid said the Indian team would need to focus more on their decision-making than expectations to get past the knockouts hurdle.

“To be able to read and understand conditions that will be different in various places. It’s our ability to use our experience. It’s our ability to execute in the middle. It’s our ability to make the right decisions whether with the bat or with the ball at those critical moments, which will be the defining factor.”

“We would rather focus on that rather than kind of worry about the expectations. Of course, there are expectations and it’s a great thing that people are rating our team highly because that means that we’ve been playing good cricket and we’ve got a good squad together,” he summarised.