Rahul Dravid’s tenure as India head coach, which got a glorious closure with the T20 World Cup triumph here, will remain a case study on how to be stately and understated at the same time in modern-day cricket coaching.
But even ‘The Wall’ crumbled when emotions took charge at the end of an 11-year long title drought.
As soon as he got a feel of the trophy, which was respectfully brought to him by player of the match Virat Kohli, Dravid let out a roar so ferocious that it seemed he was finally letting out the emotions that he works so hard to hide while in public glare.
It was a moment that was so unlike Dravid, who hardly gave a quote that could fire up the imagination of the headline desk, but remained committed to his job in a rather Gary Kirsten way.
But that minimalism can never mask the challenges Dravid had to tame during his draining, overwhelming close to three years shepherding the most followed cricket team on this planet.
In fact, the scrutiny of Dravid began even before his appointment as the head coach. He was projected as the ‘Next One’ while guiding India during a short white ball series against Sri Lanka in mid-2021.
It was his audition — a real-time interview to see how he would cope with the demands of a high-pressure post — before he landed the job full-time in November that year.
From the outset, Dravid — fair or unfair — had to match up to the lofty legacy of his predecessor Ravi Shastri, under whom India had a fine run including back-to-back away series win in Australia, the Holy Grail of Test cricket for teams from the sub-continent.
While Dravid never got a chance to tour Down Under as a coach, he tamed the Antipodeans at home in different formats.
But a defeat and a drawn Test series against a ‘weaker’ South African side will rankle Dravid, for whom wins away from home always stood as the gold standard.
However, in the deepest corners of his mind Dravid will rue the missed chance of winning the 50-over World Cup at home after his side succumbed to Australia in the final.
The World Cup win at Barbados might have eased that pain considerably, but it, surprisingly, came in a format where Dravid, much against his schtick, largely followed the conventional path.
This is not to say that Dravid was out of sync with this format as demonstrated on Saturday.
So, how will Dravid’s coaching stint be remembered? The World Cup victory will certainly occupy a large chunk of the public memory space.
However, above that, the flawless handling of a team of high-profile individuals will be the legacy for his successor to live up to. It’s daunting too.
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