In just over 12 months, the Indian men’s cricket team has qualified for three successive finals of an ICC world event. The first of those was for the World Test Championship in June 2023 followed by the ODI World Cup in November later that year.
Fast forward to June 29, the Rohit Sharma-led side is gearing up for their third ICC final, this time for the T20 World Cup. And the team is hoping to avoid the fate of their first two finals that saw them suffer defeats to Australia.
Also Read: Dravid Highlights India’s Mental Fortitude Ahead of Final
This time the opponent is South Africa, a team that has for the first time in its history qualified for a cricket world cup final.
Having been stung twice before, India head coach hopes his consistently performing side gets some rub of the green come Saturday when the title clash will be held.
“It is a good thing we have been consistently playing good cricket. We have been in finals in all three formats and credit goes to the players. If we play well and rub of the green goes (our way) we will surely win,” Dravid said.
India defeated England in the semi-final on Thursday in Guyana before taking the flight to Barbados which will host the title clash. They have just a day to rest and recover but Dravid says the team is mentally ready for the big game.
“In terms of our preparation, we’ve just got one day in the middle, so it’s unlikely we’re going to be having practice. It’s just about all the guys getting into ensuring that physically, mentally, tactically we are ready for the game,” Dravid said.
Dravid, who will step down as the India head coach after the final, says the team is fully prepared for the game.
“Those are the things that we can control, that we are fresh, that we’ve looked after all our niggles, if there are any. We’ve done all our tactical preparation and we’re mentally relaxed and excited and looking forward to the game,” he said.
“We’ll be looking to do that in the next 24 hours and try and get ourselves in the right frame of mind to be able to play that game,” he added.
This is the second time this competition that India will be playing at the Kensington Oval having earlier beaten Afghanistan in their Super 8 opener.
“Yeah, I mean, just the fact that we’ve played a game in Barbados is nice. It’s nice that we have that familiarity of having played on that surface in the past,” Dravid said.
“But again, I think it’s very hard to… We’re not going to get exactly the same wicket that we got last time. I mean, it can be different, right?” he added.
Dravid highlighted how the team has adapted to different conditions and managed to put up above par totals consistently.
“I think what’s really important is that we’ve done really well as a group. This whole tournament we have shown the ability to adapt, to recognize what is a good score. We played very differently in New York, then we played in St. Lucia, then we played even in Barbados when I thought that the game was quite slow,” he said.
“I’m just hoping that whatever we come up against, we will have the ability to recognize it and be able to play accordingly, as we’ve done in the last three games,” he added.
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