Rahul Dravid's tenure as India's head coach, which culminated in a glorious triumph at the T20 World Cup, will remain a case study in how to be a modern cricket coach with dignity and restraint at the same time.

But even “The Wall” fell apart when emotions took over at the end of an eleven-year title drought.

As soon as he held the trophy, respectfully presented to him by the player of the match Virat Kohli, Dravid let out a roar so wild that it seemed as if he was finally giving vent to the emotions he tries so hard to hide in the public spotlight.

Approach

It was a moment that was not at all in keeping with Dravid's style: he barely uttered a quote that might have fired the editors' imagination, but he remained true to his task in a way that was reminiscent of Gary Kirsten.

But this minimalism can never hide the challenges Dravid had to overcome during his grueling and overwhelming nearly three-year stint as coach of the world's most followed cricket team.

In fact, the criticism of Dravid began even before his appointment as head coach. He was touted as the 'next guy' when he led India during a short white-ball series against Sri Lanka in mid-2021.

It was his audition – a real-time interview to see how he would handle the demands of a stressful job – before he landed the full-time role in November of that year.

From the outset, Dravid has had to live up to the noble legacy of his predecessor Ravi Shastri, under whom India enjoyed a successful season, including two consecutive away series wins in Australia, the holy grail of Test cricket for teams from the subcontinent.

Although Dravid never had the opportunity to tour Down Under as a coach, he tamed the antipodes at home in various formats.

But a loss and a draw in the Test series against a ‘weaker’ South African team will irk Dravid, for whom away wins have always been the gold standard.

These are the usual hurdles that any coach has to overcome, but Dravid had to face tougher tests that are unique to the Indian cricket culture.

He managed a locker room full of superstars, an environment that was not foreign to him from his time as a player.

And he was well aware that even the smallest disagreement would be blown out of proportion.

Rewind to the exit saga of Anil Kumble’s tenure and eventual downfall.

But Dravid had an invaluable ability to assess people and situations, and he used this in his work as a coach.

Coaching activities

He implemented his methods without trying to destroy the existing system and, together with captain Rohit Sharma, created a balanced atmosphere in which the players could perform outstandingly.

Mohammed Siraj is an apt example. The pacer started his career under Shastri's regime but developed into an all-format bowler under Dravid's tutelage.

However, he did not always have to deal with calm seas.

First, three top-class batsmen – Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara – gradually got out of the hot zone.

Kohli, who always had the stamina, made Dravid's task easier by rediscovering some of his strengths, but the other two had reached their expiration date as top batters.

Their failure in the World Test Championship final against Australia in London last year accelerated their path to the exit gate.

But Pujara and Rahane had long been the bulwarks of India's middle class, and the transition process had to be handled with sensitivity.

Here Dravid drew on his immense experience of working with players during the A tours and other such development phases.

Dravid was aware early on of the enormous challenge he had to overcome and gave Shreyas Iyer his debut in his first Test series as coach – at home against New Zealand.

Iyer too did not disappoint, scoring a hundred. Ironically, Iyer and Ishan Kishan, two cricketers in whom Dravid had invested heavily, later found themselves in the eye of a storm, which ultimately led to the duo missing out on a pivotal contract with the BCCI.

Apart from these oddities, Dravid's method was not really flawed and he carried it over to the ODIs as well, where he focused on building a larger pool of young players.

It was a trait that Dravid developed during his time as captain, when the Bengaluru man and then coach Greg Chappell tried out several young players like Suresh Raina, Y Venugopala Rao and Rudra Pratap Singh with varying degrees of success.

strategy

Dravid, along with Rohit, followed a similar strategy and relied on talents like Shubman Gill, Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Siraj as well as Suryakumar Yadav, who had to wait for regular chances under the previous management.

They justified the faith placed in them by leading India to the Asia Cup title in Sri Lanka last year, where Gill and Siraj topped India's batting and bowling charts respectively.

But deep down, Dravid regrets the missed opportunity to win the 50-over World Cup at home after his team lost to Australia in the final.

Victory at the World Cup in Barbados may have eased that pain considerably, but it came surprisingly in a format where Dravid, quite against his nature, largely followed the conventional path.

This is not to say that Dravid is not in tune with this format, as was shown on Saturday.

So how will Dravid's time as coach be remembered? The World Cup win will certainly occupy a large part of public memory.

But above all, his successor will appreciate the impeccable leadership of a team of top-class personalities. That too is a huge challenge.