India had a memorable campaign at the 2023 ODI World Cup even though it ended in a defeat to Australia in the summit clash. The Rohit Sharma-led side was in red-hot form, winning 10 matches in a row to qualify for the final.
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A majority of their players were in top form and their consistent on-field performances resulted in a dominant show. Additionally, they also gave a sneak peek into the lively dressing room atmosphere by sharing videos of ‘medal ceremony’ awarded to the best fielder of the team after each match.
Players in top form, a positive dressing room, a strong support staff and a partisan home crowd. The ingredients were there for a successful campaign but the team fell at the last hurdle to finish second-best as Australia lifted a record-extending sixth ODI World Cup trophy.
A few months later, India went through a similar campaign at the T20 World Cup. This time too, they were getting the better of their opponents and made an unbeaten run to the final and it culminated into a memorable title triumph.
So did the team make any changes from last year?
“Honestly, I didn’t want to do anything different,” Dravid said during an event in Mumbai on Wednesday. “I think we ran a fantastic campaign in the one-day World Cup, Rohit and the team, everyone involved in that one-day World Cup, we ran a superb campaign.”
“There’s nothing we could have done more in terms of our preparation, the planning, the execution of what we needed to do for 10 games in a row to dominate, to win the game we did, play the game we did,” he added.
Dravid did reveal that he the team had a discussion with the support staff if there’s something that has to change ahead of the T20 World Cup given how agonisingly close they’ve came to winning as many as two ICC titles within the space of a few months.
“I did not want to change anything. If you’d asked me and we had a discussion with our support staff, we’d get together with the coaches and say, what do you think we should do differently?” Dravid said.
“The common consensus (among the team) was we need to do exactly what we did. We need to create the same energy, create the same vibe, the same team atmosphere that we had and then just hope that on the day, we’ll have a little bit of luck,” he added.
Dravid didn’t experience playing in a world cup in front of home fans but he did soak in the passion and joy as the head coach last year.
“To travel all over this country and to be able to experience that joy and passion of the fans. I’ve never been a part of a World Cup as a player in India, but just the experience as a coach to go from city to city and just walk and see what this game meant to the people of this country was phenomenal. It was incredible,” he said.
“I thought we ran a phenomenal campaign. We came unstuck in the final and Australia played better cricket than us on the day. They were a better team and congratulations (to them). That can happen in sport and that’s what sport is about,” he added.
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