Former T20 World Cup-winning coach Rahul Dravid credited former Indian captain Rohit Sharma for initiating a major change in India’s batting approach. Dravid has also backed India to win consecutive T20 World Cup titles, given their excellent form in the format.
India has been an almost invincible team in the shortest format of the game. They won the T20 World Cup in 2024 under the coach-captain duo of Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma. India will defend its title in the home World Cup in 2026 under the leadership of a new coach and a new captain.
Gautam Gambhir has inherited Rahul Dravid beautifully in white-ball cricket, especially in the shortest format of the game. Under Gambhir’s leadership, India remained undefeated in any bilateral series in the T20 World Cup and the morale of the team as well as the players is high.
Rahul Dravid cites lack of practice between formats as a major reason behind India’s struggles in Test cricket
Despite their success in white-ball cricket, India have had some undeniable struggles against the spinners, which has affected their winning streak at home. The Men in Blue have lost two series, that too in whitewashes on home soil, one against New Zealand in 2024 and then against South Africa in 2025.
Gautam Gambhir is yet to win a Test series against the SENA nation even at home, while Rahul Dravid led India to the 2023 WTC Championship, which India lost in the final. Speaking about the same, the former Indian coach attributed this to the lack of change time between formats.
“One of the things I have seen as a coach, especially with guys who are playing all three formats, they are moving from one format to another all the time,” Dravid said on Tuesday at an event celebrating ‘The R’, the book he has written on Rohit Sharma.‘Call it the Hitman’, senior cricket journalist R. By Kaushik.
He said that in his time, there were only two formats, and he would prepare for months before a Test series and arrive at least three or four days before the first game. The increasing workload has become a big challenge for the batsmen as they do not get time to develop some of their skills.
“India are playing T20 cricket at a different level than most teams” – Rahul Dravid
The ICC T20 World Cup is scheduled to begin on February 7 and Indians will be seen as strong contenders in the tournament. The former coach also feels that the Men in Blue are definitely the team to beat all other competitors, considering their current excellent form in this format.
“India are playing T20 cricket at a different level than most teams. They start as clear favorites and will reach the semi-finals, but as I have learned to my bitter disappointment, it is all about the better team on the day. Anybody can play a good innings and trouble you,” Dravid said.
He made it clear that upsets can happen with the best teams, as what matters is who performs on the final day and wins the cup, making their previous efforts irrelevant. Something that Dravid himself faced during his playing career as well as his coaching career.
Rahul Dravid credits Rohit Sharma for bringing about a massive change in India’s white-ball approach
Rahul Dravid finally paid some praise to former Indian captain Rohit Sharma. He made it clear that the great Indian batsman was solely responsible for introducing a new approach to Indian white-ball cricket.
Before Rohit Sharma became the captain of India, India was winning matches but not in important tournaments. It seemed like they were lagging behind in white-ball cricket and needed to step it up a bit. There was a need to increase the run rate and playing with risk was the only solution for them.
Then Rohit Sharma stepped forward. Rohit was always a very explosive opening batsman for India, but when he was handed the captaincy he turned into a beast. He didn’t care about the milestone and was explosive from the very first ball, often helping India provide early momentum which made the job much easier for the incoming batsmen.
“The brilliant thing was that Rohit took charge immediately. He took the responsibility of setting the pace himself rather than asking others to do it. When your leader stands up and says, ‘I will do this, even if it is at the expense of my average or my individual numbers,’ then it becomes much easier to pass that message through the team,” Dravid recalled.
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