Rahul Dravid has thanked Indian captain Rohit Sharma during his final dressing room speech after India’s triumph in T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados
Rahul Dravid Recalls Rohit’s Phone Call
India secured an epic win in the T20 World Cup 2024 finals after defeating South Africa by 7 runs difference. Rahul Dravid enjoyed the moments after being handed over the World Cup trophy by Virat Kohli.
The T20 World Cup was the last campaign for Rahul Dravid as the head coach. Separating ways apart from the Indian Cricket Team, Dravid revealed how his conversation with Rohit Sharma made him stay in the role of head coach after the side’s defeat in the finals of the ODI World Cup 2023.
Dravid had his final dressing room speech with the team, thanking Rohit Sharma on this occasion. “I just like to say, Ro, thank you very much for making that call to me in November and asking me to continue. I think it’s been such a privilege and a pleasure to work with each and every one of you and every one of you, but also to know Ro. Thanks for the time.”
“I know as a captain and a coach, there’s a lot of times we have to chat. We have to discuss. We have to agree. We have to disagree at times, but thank you so very much. It’s been brilliant to get to know each and every one of you as a person,” said Dravid.
This was confirmed by Suryakumar Yadav in the media when he revealed Dravid’s plans to quit after the World Cup finals loss.
“In the end, he came and thanked Rohit and said, “Thank you, Rohit, for that phone call in November”, because he didn’t want to continue after (India’s loss in) the 50-over World Cup but Rohit and Jay sir (BCCI secretary Jay Shah) convinced him to stay,” said Suryakumar Yadav.
In the last two World Cups, India has lost only once out of the 20 matches they played. They suffered a defeat in the ODI World Cup finals against Australia and one match against Canada concluded with no result due to washout.
After winning the World Cup, Rohit Sharma addressed Dravid saying he deserved the trophy more than anyone else.
“He – more than any one of us, I think he deserved that trophy. What he has done for Indian cricket for the past 20-25 years, I think this was the only thing that was left in his cabinet. I am very happy from all of us on behalf of the entire team that we could actually do this for him. You saw how proud he was and how excited he was. Really grateful to the occasion for this to happen as well,” Rohit said.
With Rahul Dravid’s head coach journey coming to an end, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has revealed that the new head coach will be announced soon. With former cricket Gautam Gambhir as the front-runner for the head coach position, the CAC has conducted the interviews for the role and shortlisted, Gautam Gambhir and WV Raman.
Jay Shah who is currently with the Indian Cricket Team in Barbados has said that Coach and Selector will be appointed shortly. “Both coach and selector appointments will be made shortly. CAC has interviewed and shortlisted two names and after reaching Mumbai whatever they have decided we will go by that. VVS Laxman is going to Zimbabwe but a new coach will join from the Sri Lanka series,” Jay Shah concluded.
