Newly appointed Team India head coach Rahul Dravid may be kicking off his coaching stint in the T20I series against New Zealand starting on Wednesday in Jaipur but the former India skipper has already started to focus on the three big ICC events which will be held in the next couple of years.
Significantly, there lies a T20 World Cup in Australia next year followed by a ODI World Cup, which will be hosted by India, and a possible World Test Championship (WTC) final in 2023 under Dravid’s two-year tenure.
Keeping these three events in mind, Dravid has said that he has an eye for all the three events.
“It’s a combination of both in any situation. You have to win now but you also have to keep one eye to the future. You have to plan and prepare for the big tournaments. We have them coming up in the next couple of years and we have to think about those things as well,” Dravid said in his first media address as India’s full-time head coach.
“It’s a balance that you need to strike and that’s happening in day to day functioning. It’s hard to put down how exactly you will do it but yeah, we’ll keep both things in mind and certainly, it’s one of the goals. Thinking long term and thinking about what’s in the future certainly is my job as a coach and that won’t that won’t change irrespective of whichever team you’re in, you’re coaching. In terms of the bubble fatigue, or the situation we are in now, we will think about the players’ long-term careers and futures as well and keep that in mind. Prioritise their well-being at any stage over short-term results,” he added.
As the three events cover all the three formats, Dravid expressed on the importance of each format.
“I think all the three formats are critically important for us. There’s going to be no let up in the way we prepare or the way we plan for any of the three formats. Obviously, in the next two years, there are three ICC events and we need to prepare for all those events,” the new head coach said.
“As far as vision is concerned, you know, for me, it’s just about us looking to improve constantly every day and we keep getting better as players and as people then and we should be fine,” he added.
Dravid said that he’s planning to take his time and get a feel of how the system works.
“(Right now) Getting a sense and really sitting back and observing and seeing how things are done and what’s happening and picking up and learning along the way as well. And having some conversations over the last few days. When you come in, I think my role initially will really be to sit back and watch and observe and then step in when required. And we have time for that. So there’s no rush around,” he expressed.
“Just had a few interactions. Obviously, they were busy with the World Cup, so didn’t want to sort of disturb until the World Cup got over. Just had the opportunity at times to obviously chat with Rohit [Sharma], a little bit after the World Cups got over and with Virat [Kohli] as well as with a lot of the players… so yeah, just sort of beginning that. And obviously, the support staff come in here. I’ve had a chance to meet a lot of the people who’ve already been here as part of the support staff for a really long time,” he added.