Winning a Test series in South Africa is still a distant dream for Team India, despite the team’s recent rise to prominence in the sport. This goal is what former head coach Rahul Dravid finds most frustrating about his time in coaching.
After being named India’s head coach in November 2021, the visit of South Africa was Dravid’s first significant task. As India secured a historic victory in Centurion, the series got off to a great start and prospects of winning a first series were raised. But after that, the visitors suffered a devastating comeback and lost the series 2-1. As he considered the series, Dravid expressed his dissatisfaction.
“The South Africa Test series early in my career would be my lowest point, if you must know. After winning the first Test match at Centurion, South Africa, we participated in the second and third Test matches. You are aware that we have never won a series in South Africa. Winning that series was a huge chance for us. “There weren’t many of our senior players present,” Dravid stated to Star Sports.
Several of our senior players were absent from that series: Rahul Dravid
The difficulty was increased by the absence of important players, such as Rohit Sharma. Rahul Dravid thought the team had enough strength, though, to get over these obstacles. Due to Virat Kohli’s one-match suspension for a sluggish overrate, KL Rahul took over as captain for the second Test.
The Rainbow Nation pursued the objective even though they had set a target of 240. Similar agony occurred in the last Test, as the hosts successfully chased 212 to win the series. Therefore, the previous head coach of India believed that despite leading the hosts in the Test matches, the squad had failed to maintain control of the games.
“We didn’t have certain senior players in that series, and Rohit Sharma was hurt. However, we were quite close, and we had a great opportunity in the third innings of the second and third Test matches, he continued.
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“South Africa performed well, but we could have won the game and scored a respectable score. In the fourth inning, they made a comeback. Therefore, I would say that losing that series despite being up was perhaps my lowest point as a coach,” Dravid said.
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