In the world of sports journalism, there are some tasks that are more arduous than others, but any piece of work on Rahul Dravid is always warmly welcomed by cricket writers as it gives them an excuse to fire up YouTube and purr over his greatest knocks.

Indeed, the man that they nicknamed the Wall was one of the finest batsmen that the world had ever seen and had it not been for the fact that he played at the same time as Sachin Tendulkar, we might even consider Dravid to be the greatest of all time today. Swashbuckling, classy, sophisticated: there aren’t enough superlatives to describe Dravid, who scored more than 24,000 international runs over the course of a 16-year career. 

It is, however, Dravid’s second act now as head coach of India that is making headlines and drawing focus. The 48-year-old arrives on the scene at a fraught time as India have recently underperformed at the T20 World Cup. In many ways, you could say that the only way is up for Dravid. Only, it’s not quite that straightforward given that there are few more pressurized positions in world sport than coaching India’s men’s cricket team. The former batsman will be expected to hit the ground running immediately by beating New Zealand at home in their next series. Indeed, there is no time to learn on the job when you are put into the Indian hot-seat and Dravid’s remit will be to begin successfully preparing for the 2023 World Cup at home by building a winning culture. Ultimately, this is a World Cup that the BCCI expects India to win. 

Tellingly, India have been priced at just 9/4 odds to win the tournament so it goes without saying that they are the firm favourites. It may be almost two years away, but with markets already open and a plethora of online betting sites available, you can already find cricket fanatics flocking to find the best betting bonus and place their wagers for the 2023 showpiece.

On the face of it, it may seem like a golden opportunity for not only punters but also Dravid to enjoy success at a World Cup. The 48-year-old did, after all, miss out on the chance to win a World Cup as a player in 2011 in India despite still being available for selection. With this in mind, you imagine that it would be a fitting way to claim cricket’s greatest prize after suffering the heartbreak of watching his teammates win it without him. Whilst that may all be true, Dravid will have his work cut out for him and can’t put the national team on autopilot for the duration of his tenure. 

In particular, Dravid will have to solidify India’s top-order, which proved to be worryingly brittle against the better teams at the T20 World Cup. Admittedly, that may prove to be the easiest task of Dravid’s reign given how well documented his ability with bat in hand was. Technically faultless and equally aggressive when the situation required it, Dravid will be able to call on his wealth of experience at the crease to make sure India become a formidable batting unit once more. 

Another significant factor going in Dravid’s favour as he takes over is that he has worked as the head director at India’s National Cricket Academy, which has helped him understand how important it is to integrate fresh blood into the senior team. This will surely come to the fore over the next 24 months as India’s old guard reach the end of their careers. Indeed, there currently isn’t a better person to oversee the transition that awaits Indian cricket at the senior level. 

Yes, India will benefit from Dravid’s ability to improve the team’s batting and reap the rewards of his determination to give up-and-coming players their chance on the biggest stage, but his biggest challenge will be man-management. 

The long and short of it is that the Indian cricket team is full of the game’s biggest stars and managing a dressing room of multi-millionaires is undeniably the most difficult aspect of coaching India. Perhaps a leaf can be taken out of India’s 2011 World Cup-winning coach’s book. Indeed, Gary Kirsten proved to be extremely adept at man-management when you consider that he didn’t try and over-coach his players, rather, the South African only stepped in when he was asked to provide his advice. 

It’s a fine balancing act but coaches who aim to be successful have to leave their egos as the door when taking charge of India. 

The reassuring news is that Dravid has always been a mild-mannered man who carries himself superbly in any setting. So along with having an astute cricketing brain and a vast understanding of the Academy system, he also has the emotional intelligence to make his time as India’s head coach a successful one.

Tags: 2023 World Cup, Coach, Cricket, India, Rahul Dravid