Indian cricket team coach Rahul Dravid said he has not thought about his future and was concentrating on the World Cup tournament, hours after Australia defeated India in the final to clinch the global title for the sixth time.
Rahul Dravid. Photo Courtesy: BCCI X page video grab
During the press conference after the match, Dravid was quoted as saying by media: “I was completely focused on this campaign, focused on this World Cup, and there was nothing else on my mind. And I haven’t given any other thought to what happens in the future.”
India won ten straight matches to reach the final on home soil, but were beaten on the day by an Australian side who delivered in all facets of the game to claim the victory by six wickets.
But India’s head coach was still full of pride in his team’s efforts across the whole campaign.
“We ran a really good campaign,” Dravid said.
“I’m really proud of the boys, the way we played right through this tournament, the kind of cricket we played, just the quality of cricket that we played right through this tournament, I thought was quite exceptional. So really proud of the efforts, proud of everything that we gave,” he said.
“Just at the last step in the final we probably didn’t have our best game and credit to Australia. My congratulations to them. They played really well on the day and they were better than us,” Dravid said.
Dravid praised Rohit Sharma and called him an ‘exceptional leader’.
“You know, Rohit’s really led this team fantastically well,” he said.
“He’s always been available for any of our conversations, any of our meetings. Sometimes there’s been a lot of planning, a lot of strategy that goes in. He’s always committed to those things. He’s given a lot of his personal time, energy into this campaign,” Dravid said.
“And his batting as well, I thought it was fantastic, the way he set the tone for us. We knew that we wanted to play a certain way. We wanted to play a positive attacking brand of cricket. And he was very committed to doing that. And he wanted to lead by example. And I thought right through the tournament, he was quite superb in doing that. I just can’t speak more highly of him as a person and as a leader,” the coach said.