IND vs WI: Rahul Dravid Has Become A Soft Target - Dodda Ganesh Hits Out At Head Coach's Critics

Former Indian cricketer Dodda Ganesh lashed out at the critics targeting Rahul Dravid for Team India’s poor outings of late. He said that the head coach has become a soft target and urged people to not admonish him for everything. 

Rahul Dravid as a coach of the Indian cricket team hasn’t had a great outing. Under him, the team has struggled to win consistently and has faced some disappointing losses, and is currently at the receiving end of defeats in the T20I series against West Indies. 

The ongoing West Indies tour has seen the India team facing a loss in the second ODI against the team, that even failed to qualify for the World Cup. To make things worse, they have faced back-to-back losses in two T20Is and are on the cusp of losing the series. 

Rahul Dravid came into the limelight after India’s poor tactics in the second T20I. They played 6 bowlers including Hardik Pandya but what caught the attention of many was when Yuzvendra Chahal bowled a game-changing 16th over he didn’t get to bowl the next over. Whereas Axar Patel wasn’t even given a chance to bowl, especially with the wicket being spin friendly. 

Following this Rahul Dravid received a lot of hate with many saying that he was destroying Indian cricket. Dodda Ganesh however, hit back at all this, saying that he has no role in the captain making the bowling changes. Taking to his Twitter account, he explained: 

“Stop admonishing Rahul Dravid for every damn thing. He had no role in the captain juggling his bowlers today. Of late, Rahul has become a soft target only because he doesn’t say much in the media.“ 

Stop admonishing Rahul Dravid for every damn thing. He had no role in the captain juggling his bowlers today. Of late, Rahul has become a soft target only because he doesn’t say much in the media #DoddaMathu #CricketTwitter #WIvIND

— Dodda Ganesh | ದೊಡ್ಡ ಗಣೇಶ್ (@doddaganesha) August 6, 2023

Rahul Dravid took over Indian coaching after the T20 World Cup 2021 but after that team lost the Test and ODI series in South Africa and also faced loss in ODIs against Bangladesh. In terms of tournaments, they faced an early exit in Asia Cup 2022 and also lost the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022 and ICC World Test Championship Final. 

IND vs WI: That was a not a pleasing batting performance – Hardik Pandya after loss in 2nd T20I 

India captain Hardik Pandya wasn’t amazed by the team’s 2-wicket loss in the second game. He said that it wasn’t an ideal batting performance from their end and they need to find ways to make sure that they find the right balance. He explained: 

“If am being honest that was a not a pleasing batting performance, we could have batted better. 160+ or 170 would have been a good total. The way he has been batting, becomes very difficult to rotate spinners. 2/2 and the way he batted, took the game quite into their hands. 

“With the current combination we have we will have to trust out top 7 batters to come good and hope the bowlers win you games. We have to find ways to make sure we have the right balance but at the same time batters need to take more responsibility.” 

The third T20I between India and West Indies will be played on Tuesday (8th August) at the same venue.