Dravid reflects on the challenges faced during Kohli's transition: 'We lost the series despite being in a winning position'

During his time as head coach of the men's cricket team, Rahul Dravid led India to three ICC trophy finals. Despite losses to Australia in the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup, Dravid finished on a high note with a victory at the T20 World Cup in Barbados. This marked India's second multi-nation trophy win under his leadership, adding to their Asia Cup triumph in 2023.

However, during his successful tenure, David also experienced some heartbreaks. And while the ODI World Cup final loss at home was expected to top that list, which was India's only loss in that tournament, the 51-year-old picked the lowest point of his tenure as the opening assignment with the team.

In late 2021, following the humiliating group-stage exit in the T20 World Cup, Dravid succeeded Ravi Shastri as the new head coach of the Indian team. The side was going to a major transition amid an off-field turmoil in Indian cricket as Virat Kohli, who had stepped down from the T20I captain role following the World Cup, was removed from the leadership role in ODIs by then BCCI president Sourav Ganguly. The board's call sparked a war of words between the two stalwarts of Indian cricket, leaving the Indian team in a precarious position as they head to South Africa for a three-match Test series.

'We lost the series despite being ahead'

Despite the turmoil, the Kohli-led Indian side, in absence of an injured Rohit Sharma, beat the Proteas in Centurion in the series opener. However, Kohli missed the second Test owing to an injury and the KL Rahul-led side conceded the lead in Johannesburg. Although the regular captain returned for the final tie, India failed to bag their first-ever Test series win in South Africa as the hosts won the third Test.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Dravid said: “If you ask me what is the lowest point, I would say the South Africa Test series early on in my career. We won the first Test match in South Africa in Centurion, and then we were playing in the second and third Test match. We have never won a series in South Africa, as you know. It was a really big opportunity for us to win that series. Some of our senior players were not there. Rohit Sharma was injured, and we didn’t have some senior players in that series. But we were very close, and in both the Test matches—the second and the third test matches—in the third inning, we had a big opportunity. We could have set a decent score and won the game, but South Africa played well. They chased back in in the fourth inning. So I would say that that was probably my lowest point in my coaching of not being able to win that series in spite of being ahead."

Kohli relinquished his captaincy role after the series and Rohit was named as the all-format leader shortly after.

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