Rahul Dravid‘s tenure as India’s head coach hasn’t been the best so far. Though India won all the home series, and in Bangladesh, and are in the WTC final, India lost the series in South Africa and the Edgbaston Test that meant they didn’t win the series in which India had taken the 2-1 lead in England under Kohli-Shastri.
Winning the WTC final would be crucial for head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma to won something of note in their tenures.
Under Rahul Dravid’s tenure, some of the veterans have been dropped from the team and the squad.
Here are 5 senior players who were dropped from the Test team under the tenure of Rahul Dravid:
Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara
Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara were dropped from the XI and the Test squad in mid-2022, after their lacklustre performances over a period of time after the Australia series win in 2020/21. This included ordinary, disappointing shows in South Africa.
From January 2021 to the end of January 2022, Pujara averaged 27 and Rahane averaged only 20. During the Sri Lanka series in March, after a long time India played without both.
While Pujara managed to make a comeback the same year, on the back of his excellent form in County cricket, Rahane remained ousted and only recently has made a comeback for the WTC final.
Wriddhiman Saha
With Rishabh Pant being the first-choice wicket-keeper from the Australia tour, and KS Bharat being looked at as the back-up, the aging Saha was dropped from the Test team last year. Saha featured in only 3 Tests in 2020 and 2021 without any performance of note and was excluded from the squad in 2022.
Mayank Agarwal
Agarwal last played Test cricket for India in 2022 against Sri Lanka. In 4 Tests in 2022, Agarwal had managed 130 runs at an average of only 18. His numbers outside India – average of 25 in 12 Tests – were uninspiring. With Shubman Gill rising, and Rohit and KL Rahul being the preferred openers, Agarwal was bound to be dropped.
Ishant Sharma
Ishant featured in 8 Tests in 2021 with only 14 wickets to show and was dropped from the Test squad in early 2022. Siraj had already gone ahead in the pecking order and with India playing with only 2 seamers at home – to choose between Siraj, Shami, and Umesh – and picking Shardul Thakur as a seam-bowling all-rounder away from home, Ishant’s wasn’t going to find a place in the XI; his dipping form and age further hurt his cause.
