Reacting to Team India’s early exit from the ongoing Asia Cup after two consecutive defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, head coach Rahul Dravid has said that it’s important not to overreact and keep faith in the processes in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.
Dravid said it’s important not to overreact after a win or a defeat while stressing that India aren’t a “terrible team” as they lost a couple of close games and failed to make the final of the continental tournament.
“I think, irrespective of whether we won those games or not, you have to put things in perspective. In T20I cricket, the margins are so small and I know we won the first game. It’s not that after we won the tight game against Pakistan, it’s not that everything was perfect,” Rahul Dravid told Star Sports on Thursday.
“Just because we lost a couple of tight games doesn’t mean we are a terrible team. We have played some good cricket over the last 8-9 months. A couple of injuries and a couple of illnesses as well, sometimes the balance of your team gets a little off track and in a tournament like this where the margins are small and the competition is tight, small things can influence the result,” he added.
Notably, the Rohit Sharma-led side kicked-off their Asia Cup campaign with a 5-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in a last-over thriller and followed it up with a comfortable victory over minnows Hong Kong to top Group A and eventually qualify for the Super 4 stage.
However, India tasted disappointment in the next stage as they lost to Pakistan by five wickets in the first game of the Super 4 stage before going down to Sri Lanka and became the first team to get eliminated from the race to the final.
Commenting on the defeats, Dravid said: “We lost a couple of games on a wicket, honestly, that was not easy to defend. We have taken the game down to the last ball. I am not using that as an excuse because I still think we should have gone over the finish line in at least one of those two games.”
“The whole thing is not to overreact about things. At times, we tend to overreact with wins as well as losses. I think we are trying to create a pretty balanced environment whether we win or lose, we don’t get too overtly excited or too disappointed. We see this as a journey that we want to keep going,” he added.
Dravid also reckoned that the missed opportunity to not play a high-stakes final in front of a packed crowd was disappointing ahead of the World Cup.
“The one disappointment is we don’t get to play one extra game. That would have been another learning opportunity, the terrific atmosphere it will on the 11th, but we didn’t earn that chance. We don’t get that experience ahead of the World Cup. Otherwise, we want to keep going on the same path,” Dravid said.
Significantly, India missed out on a berth in the final of the Asia Cup for the first time since 2014.
India’s next assignment will be two back to back home series against Australia and South Africa.