Graeme Smith highlights 'biggest challenge' for Rahul Dravid after India's WTC final defeat

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Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith has backed head coach Rahul Dravid following India's 209-run defeat against Australia in the World Test Championship final (WTC Final 2023). Smith has also highlighted the 'biggest challenge' ahead of Dravid to rebuild Team India.

Under the coaching of Rahul Dravid, India have now lost the Asia Cup 2022, T20 World Cup 2022 and the WTC final. India also lost the ODI series against Bangladesh in December last year.

Smith highlighted that balancing the three squads amid hectic schedule of Indian cricket will emerge as the biggest challenge for the former India captain. Smith, who has also served as the director of cricket for Cricket South Africa (CSA), suggested that Dravid should be given a fair amount of time to rebuild the Indian cricket team.

“The biggest challenge in India for a leader is balancing those squads, balancing your tour schedules, the different formats, and those are some of the biggest decisions that are coming ahead of Rahul and his selection team. What do those squads look like, how do they move those teams forward,” Smith was quoted as saying by Times of India.

“He’s a quality man and a quality performer. He’s shown it right through as a coach. So, you’ve got to give him a fair opportunity now to kind of rebuild India,” added the South African.

Rahul Dravid had rued the lack of time to prepare for the WTC final after India's embarrassing defeat at The Oval in London.

“I am never going to be happy with the prep as a coach, but that’s a reality I’m faced with…we are faced with. Schedules are so cramped and tight. When you’ve been playing international cricket, if you’re here three weeks before the tour and play two side games, you’re going to be better prepared,” Dravid said while speaking to Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh on Star Sports.

“We don’t have that, got to do what we can, but no excuses, no complaints. I want to congratulate Australia. They played better than us for five days. We don’t need to make excuses, we need to look at ourselves, see what we can get better at, what we can improve on, and that’s a constant effort,” Dravid had added.