India head coach Rahul Dravid believes the recent defeats in ICC finals will have no bearing on the Rohit Sharma-led side’s performance against an undefeated South Africa in the final of the ICC men’s T20 World Cup in Barbados.

India have stumbled at the last hurdle in their two most recent appearances in ICC finals, having tasted defeat to Australia in both last year’s ICC World Test Championship final in London and the ICC men’s 50-over World Cup final in Ahmedabad.

But Dravid believes this will have no impact on the fortunes of India in the one-off contest against South Africa as the Asian side attempts to claim their second T20 World Cup title after they tasted success in the inaugural tournament back in 2007.

“I don’t think players go in keeping the baggage of the past and what has happened in the past, so every day is a fresh day. Players are very good at moving on from things, of recognising things. So yes, I think just as we will move on from Ahmedabad, I’m sure they will not be thinking about history and it will be a fresh day,” Dravid said.

“Two good teams, two teams I think that everyone will agree that probably the top two teams in this tournament played the best cricket I think in this tournament, both South Africa and India So, deserving finals for both the teams and hopefully it’s a great game of cricket and hopefully we fall on the right side,” the former India captain asserted.

India also enter the T20 World Cup decider unbeaten throughout the tournament, with the only game they failed to win coming against Canada in Florida when inclement weather conditions forced the clash to be abandoned. Three victories in the tournament preceded that Canada match and four wins have come after, but Dravid thinks India have yet to produce a flawless performance at the event.

While hopeful that a perfect game will come against South Africa, Dravid is a realist and is instead focused on helping the players stay relaxed and produce close to their best in the clash.

“I think you’re always looking to improve. And I don’t think you can ever have a perfect game. Certainly, we have not had a perfect, perfect game in any game and I don’t think any team really does,” he said.

“So, look, I mean, I think in one day it’s not that, you’re going to suddenly start changing things too much. So, for us really, I think now getting into this final, it’s just about staying relaxed, about trusting the good cricket that we’ve played about recognising I think that we found ourselves in pressure situations right through this tournament but we’ve always found players and people to come up and deliver the goods.”

“Also just recognising that we’ve got a really good balance in the team, we’ve got the players and just for us to, like I answered earlier, maybe just come there really well prepared, do all the things that we can do, control all the controllables, do everything that we need to do and then just go out and play hopefully a great game of cricket,” added David ahead of his final game as India’s head coach.