New Delhi, Aug 25: Former India head coach Rahul Dravid believes India remain capable of reaching the World Test Championship final despite slipping behind in the qualification race, but cautioned that the road ahead will be demanding.
India are currently fifth in the WTC points table and need a strong run in their remaining matches to break into the top two. Their campaign has received a boost from a 1-0 lead in the ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka, with India winning the first Test in Galle by 165 runs and taking control of the second.
“I’m hoping they do. It’ll be a great run if India can qualify for the WTC final from here,” Dravid told JioStar.
“They’ve fallen behind a little bit, but the kind of quality that the Indian team has, you’re not going to write them off at any stage. They started off well against Sri Lanka, so that’s a good first step,” he said.
India’s next major challenge will come in October when they travel to New Zealand for a two-Test series.
Dravid believes the away series will be particularly demanding for India’s younger players, many of whom have limited experience of playing in New Zealand conditions.
“New Zealand away, (is) always a challenge. (They are a) tough team, New Zealand, to play away from home,” he said.
“A lot of the young Indian boys have not played in those conditions, so that’s going to be a big challenge,” Dravid added.
India will also have to cope with the absence of considerable Test experience following the departures of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara.
“Hopefully, they can keep the guys fit and not have a lot of injuries over the next few months. We’re missing the experience of Virat (Kohli) and Rohit (Sharma), Ajinkya Rahane and (Cheteshwar) Pujara, these kinds of guys who’ve probably been there the last time India went,” Dravid said.
After the New Zealand assignment, India will host Australia in a five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series beginning in January 2027, another crucial hurdle in their WTC campaign.
Dravid expects the Australians to be particularly motivated to succeed in India, given their recent inability to win a Test series in the country.
“Australia will be really exciting. A lot of their players will be very keen to do well in India,” he said.
“That’s a generation of truly great Australian players, a great Australian team that has not won in India. So they’ll be keen to do that,” Dravid added.
With Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia forming a crucial stretch of India’s WTC campaign, Dravid believes the team still has the quality to overcome the challenges and secure a place in the summit clash.
