New Delhi: Rahul Dravid, the former India captain and head coach, has revealed that his pouring his emotions out in the aftermath of winning the Men’s T20 World Cup in June was spontaneous and just came out without any planning. After India lifted the Men’s T20 World Cup trophy with a seven-run win over South Africa in the final at Barbados on June 29, a usually reserved Rahul Dravid let out a celebratory outburst after being invited by the players to lift the trophy.
“It just comes out. You don’t plan these things. You don’t think about these things. Most times, I try to keep my emotions in check as a coach. You’re expected to do that. To be honest, I felt really happy for the team. I felt happy for all the boys, for the support staff, and so many people who had worked hard along with me,” Dravid was quoted as saying by ICC when he was in Chennai for the recently concluded TNPL final.
India’s triumph in the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup came after they last won a World Cup trophy in 2011, held in the 50-over format and won in front of a home crowd in Mumbai. In 2023, India made the finals of the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup, but lost to Australia on both occasions, before ending the drought at Barbados this June.
“Not only in that tournament. I had been around for two and a half to three years. And we’d come close a number of times: the semifinals of the last T20 World Cup in Australia (in 2022), the finals of the World Test Championship, and the 50-over World Cup in India.”
“And we were just not able to cross the line at the critical moment. We were playing good cricket; we were playing strength to strength. But even in those situations, you need a bit of luck, a bit of destiny to go your way and I think that was with us.”
“In some other tournaments, unfortunately, it was not with us. A lot of that was that happiness and relief coming out,” concluded Dravid, who had also won the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2018 as the head coach of the Indian team.
(IANS)
