Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has confirmed that the ongoing ICC Men’s Twenty 20 World Cup will be his last tournament as the head coach of the Indian team as well. He has also shared that he will not apply for the position again for which the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had advertised last month as well.

“It is going to be the last one that I am in-charge of,” Dravid said before India’s first game against Ireland in New York. “Yeah, just considering, unfortunately, the kind of schedules and where I find myself at this stage in my life, I don’t think I’ll be able to re-apply. So yeah, obviously it’ll be my last one. But having said that, it’s (the significance of the tournament is) no different for me.”

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However, Rahul Dravid also answered the question if he looked at the World Cup as an ‘extra special’ event, as it will be his last tournament at the helm of the Indian team as well. Notably, Dravid took over the reins of Team India from Ravi Shastri in November 2021 after the end of an ICC Twenty20 World Cup in Dubai as well. And, since then, he has been in charge of the Twenty20 World Cup in 2022, a World Test Championship final in 2023 and a 50-over World Cup in 2023 as well.

The World Cup in October-November last year was expected to be his last event as India coach but he agreed to stay until the T20 World Cup this year as well. Under him, India won 14 of the 17 bilateral T20I series, 10 of the 14 ODI series and 6 of the 8 Test series as well.

“I love doing the job. I’ve really enjoyed coaching India and I think it’s a truly special job to do. I enjoyed working with this team and it’s a great bunch of boys to work with,” he further said. “To be very honest, I don’t see this as anything particularly different or significant. It’s from the first day I took the job. I always felt that every game was important and every game mattered. And that will not change,” Rahul Dravid concluded.