Former T20 World Cup-winning coach Rahul Dravid went on to credit former Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for introducing a massive shift in India’s batting approach. Dravid has also backed India to win the consecutive T20 World Cup title, considering their smashing form in the format.
India have been an almost invincible side in the shortest format of the game. They won the T20 World Cup in 2024 under the coach-captain duo of Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma. India will be defending their title in the home World Cup in 2026 under the new coach and new captain.
Gautam Gambhir has taken the legacy from Rahul Dravid beautifully in white-ball cricket, especially the shortest format of the game. Gambhir led India into the T20 World Cup undefeated in any bilateral series, and the team, as well as the players, are high on morale.
Rahul Dravid cites the lack of practice between formats as a major reason behind India’s struggles in Test cricket
Despite their success in white-ball cricket, India have had some undeniable struggles against spinners, which has hence affected their winning streak on home turf. The Men in Blue have lost two series, that too in a whitewash at home, one against New Zealand in 2024 and then against South Africa in 2025.
Gautam Gambhir is yet to win a Test series against a SENA nation, even on home turf, while Rahul Dravid led India to the 2023 WTC Championship, which India lost in the finals. Speaking of the same, the former Indian coach blamed it on the lack of turnaround time between formats.
“One of the things I’ve noticed even as a coach, especially with the guys who are playing all three formats, they’re just moving from one format to the other all the time,” Dravid said on Tuesday at an event celebrating the book on Rohit Sharma, ‘The Rise of the Hitman,’ by senior cricket journalist R. Kaushik.
He noted that in their time, there were only two formats, and they would prepare for months ahead of a Test series and would arrive at least three or four days ahead of the first game. The growing workload has become a huge challenge for the batters since they do not get the time to develop some of their skills.
“India are playing T20 cricket at a different level than most teams” – Rahul Dravid
The ICC T20 World Cup is scheduled to start on the 7th of February, and the Indians will be seen as the favourites going into the tournament. The former coach too felt that the Men in Blue are definitely the team to beat all other competitors, given their current smashing form in the format.
“India are playing T20 cricket at a different level than most teams. They clearly start as favorites and they will make it to the semifinals but as I have learned to my bitter disappointment, it’s about the better team on the day. Anybody can play a good knock and upset you,” Dravid mentioned.
He made it clear that upsets can happen to the best of teams, because what matters is who performs and wins the cup on that final day, which makes their previous efforts irrelevant. Something that Dravid himself faced during his playing career, as well as his coaching career.
Rahul Dravid credits Rohit Sharma for bringing a massive shift to India’s white-ball approach
Rahul Dravid lastly had reserved some praise for the former Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. He made it very clear that the great Indian batter was solely responsible for introducing a new approach in Indian white-ball cricket.
Before Rohit Sharma took over as India’s captain, India were winning matches but not at crucial tournaments. The feeling was that they were lagging in white-ball cricket and needed to push it a bit further. The run rates needed to shoot up, and risk play was the only solution for them.
It was just then that Rohit Sharma stepped up. Rohit was always a very explosive opener for India, but he transformed into a beast when he was handed the captaincy. He did not care about milestones and went bang-bang from ball one, which often helped India with the early momentum that made the task much easier for the batters to come.
“What was brilliant was that Rohit took the lead immediately. He took responsibility for setting the tempo himself, rather than asking others to do it. When your leader stands up and says, ‘I will do this, even if it comes at the cost of my average or my personal numbers,’ it becomes much easier to pass that message through the team,” Dravid recalled.
ALSO READ: BCCI secretary mocks entire India to defend Gautam Gambhir from criticism
