Former Indian selector Saba Karim has claimed that the Indian head coach, Rahul Dravid is going through a crunch time with the Indian team as the coach’s honeymoon period is over. After a brilliant start to the Asia Cup campaign, India suffered back-to-back losses to Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the Super Fours stage and eventually got knocked out of the tournament. 

With the T20 World Cup right around the corner, Saba Karim explained why it is crunch time for Rahul Dravid. Speaking on Sports 18’s show ‘Sports Over The Top’, as quoted by Hindustan Times, the former selector said that India’s head coach is trying to be an alchemist but the core hasn’t been formed yet.

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Saba Karim explained, “Well, even Rahul Dravid is aware that the honeymoon period is over, and he is trying his best to be an alchemist but so far, such metals haven’t been converted into the core. One would expect him to do that. This is crunch time for Rahul Dravid.”

Karim also went on to say that if given a chance, Dravid would have swapped the many bilateral series wins for the Test series win in South Africa and the last Test match in England.

Elaborating the same, Saba Karim said, “If given an option, Rahul Dravid would love to have those Test series wins in South Africa and the last Test match in England. He would love to swap that with so many bilateral wins that India has got under his belt. But that’s the nature of the challenges which Rahul Dravid has to face.”

The former wicketkeeper said that Rahul Dravid will know that the only way he can only make his coaching tenure a successful one is if India starts winning ICC Events and Test series in SENA countries.

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Saba Karim explained, “See Rahul is sensible and intelligent enough to understand that the only way he can define a successful tenure of his coaching career is if India number one, wins ICC events, and number two it starts to win Test series in SENA countries. Test wins even while Rahul Dravid was playing, India has done that. But more importantly, when India starts to win in SENA countries, the Test series, that’s when Rahul Dravid will be very happy with team India’s performance.”