Rahul Dravid says T20 World Cup will be his last as India head coach

Rahul Dravid on Monday confirmed that the T20 World Cup 2024 will be his last tournament as head coach of the Indian cricket team Dravid who took charge of the team in November 2021 was not expected to reapply for the highprofile job after the BCCI invited applications last monthSpeaking to reporters ahead of Indias World Cup opener against Ireland Dravid said he enjoyed every bit of his coaching tenure Every tournament is important Every game that Ive coached for India has been very important for me So for me this is no different just because it is going to be the last one that Im in charge of he said when asked if this tournament held more significance as it was his last one in charge of the teamThe former India captain had taken charge of the team following the 2021 T20 World Cup I love doing the job Ive really enjoyed coaching India and I think its a truly special job to do I enjoyed working with this team and its a great bunch of boys to work with but yeah but just considering unfortunately just the kind of schedules and where I find myself in the stage in my life I dont think Ill be able to reapplySo yeah itll be my last one but having said that its no different for me to be very honest From the first day I took the job I always felt that every game was important and every game mattered and that will not change he asserted India will be aiming to win an elusive ICC trophy here and give a perfect farewell to the coachWe have got options Dravid on opening pairThe head coach kept his cards close to his chest when asked about Indias opening combination for the T20 World Cup 2024 opener Rohit Sharma is expected to open alongside Virat Kohli but Yashasvi Jaiswal is also an optionWeve got options so we are obviously not going to reveal our cards just yet but certainly weve got options We have Rohit and Jaiswal and Virat opened in the IPL as wellWe picked the team keeping in mind that we have three options and we could pick and choose what we wanted depending on the conditions and kind of combination we go into these games with said DravidAlso ReadSkipper Rohitrsquos big testThe dropin pitches with variable bounce and slow outfield at the Nassau County ground have come under the scanner Dravid said his team is not complaining and will look to adapt to the prevailing conditionsWe had three practice sessions here From the third session onwards the wicket became better But a wicket is a wicket We dont want to label it as bad or good It is a wicket and you have to manage and you have to adjust to it So we will not complain about the wicketA score of 200 was par in the recently concluded IPL but over here it seems like a winning score As we talk about T20 cricket maybe we wont be able to play like that in this tournament Maybe in this venue We will hopefully play in many venues So it will be different there So it will be important to adaptSouth Africa captain Aiden Markram also said after the lowscoring game against Sri Lanka on Monday that it was a tough surface to bat on Dravid reiterated that his players will have adapt to the varied conditionsI didnt watch the match today We will see the recording But the score has been a little low Sri Lanka were shot out for 77 I have no idea what exactly happened But if it is like that then you will have to fight and make 140Maybe that will be the winning score In some matches there will be a winning score of 200 So whatever the score is you will have to react and adaptWe have played good cricket in world eventsDravid defended the performance of the players in the recent ICC events where the team failed to cross the finishing line India lost the WTC final and ODI World Cup final to Australia last year extending their title drought on the global stage Their last ICC title came in 2013To be very honest with you I think weve actually played really well in these World Cup tournaments In terms of our consistency weve been very consistent said Dravid when asked if the past defeats have made the players better prepared for this eventObviously making the semifinal in Australia 2022 The World Test Championship is slightly different its not one tournament but its a whole cycle but playing extremely well in that cycle to get to the final there againAnd then we know the 50over World Cup where we had a great run and went into the final So in terms of our consistency and quality of cricket that we have played in these big tournaments weve been right up there with some of the best teamsThe team will once again strive for that level of consistency and hopefully go all the way this time said the coach Yes we probably havent been able to get across the line in the knockout game So we just probably havent been able to execute in that last phase So hopefully we play good cricket to get ourselves into those positions again and then maybe play good cricket on the day to cross the lineThe important thing is when you start these tournaments is not to think about that is to actually think about getting into those positions You have to find yourselves in those positions where you are pushing for glory and thats all you can do as a group and as a team said DravidHe is also missing the buzz that is usually associated with a world event but hoped that would change when India play their games here The buzz that you have around these events obviously with cricket not being say one of the major sports in this country So you dont kind of feel that kind of buzz over here But hopefully once our game starts and a lot of the Indian fans do start coming in you start seeing that similar kind of excitementWith agency inputs