The usually calm and collected Rahul Dravid let his emotions out during India’s T20 World Cup trophy celebration after they defeated South Africa in the final last month to became the champions for the second time in their history.
Virat Kohli handed over the trophy to the then head coach Rahul whose joyous, exuberant celebrations even delighted the India stars. And that was the moment of the final for offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
“My moment was when Virat Kohli called Rahul Dravid and gave him the trophy. I saw him hug the cup and cry. Rahul Dravid screamed and cried. I saw him enjoy. I felt that a lot,” Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel.
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It was full circle for Dravid who was the India captain when India made a first-round exit from the 2007 ODI World Cup when it was hosted in the Caribbean islands.
As a player, Dravid never won a world cup but as coach he has now two titles to his name – the first being the 2018 U-19 World Cup when India defeated Australia in the title clash.
However, Dravid himself doesn’t believe in redemption and just feels that he wasn’t lucky enough to win a world up as a player.
“There is no redemption. I’m not one of those guys who think about redemption and those kind of things. As a player, I was not lucky enough to win a trophy. But I tried my best, I gave my best whenever I played and it wasn’t to be, and that happens, it’s part of sport,” Dravid said.
“There are a lot of other players I know who have not been able to win a trophy. I was lucky to be given the opportunity to coach a team and I was lucky that this bunch of boys made it possible for me to win this trophy,” he added.
Dravid’s term as India coach ended with the T20 World Cup and he termed it as a ‘great journey’.
“It’s a nice feeling, but it’s not like I’m aiming for some redemption. It’s just a job that I was doing. I’ve loved doing this job. I have loved working with Rohit [Sharma] and this team. It’s been a great journey and I really enjoyed it,” he said.
