Can Team India still reach WTC final? Rahul Dravid opines
What's the story
Former Indian cricket team head coach, Rahul Dravid, believes that the Men in Blue still have a shot at making it to the World Test Championship (WTC) final. However, he acknowledged that their path has become more challenging. Currently sitting fifth on the WTC points table, India will need stellar performances in their remaining matches to break into the top two. India have five wins across 10 Tests in the 2025-27 cycle with their points percentage (PCT) being 53.33 (1 draw, 4 losses).
Statement
They've fallen behind a little bit: Dravid
Despite India's win in the opening Test against Sri Lanka, Dravid feels their path to the WTC final won't be easy.
"I'm hoping they do. It'll be a great run if India can qualify for the WTC final from here," Dravid told JioStar.
"They've fallen behind a little bit, but the kind of quality that the Indian team has, you're not going to write them off at any stage. They started off well against Sri Lanka, so that's a good first step," he added.
Future fixtures
New Zealand tour will be a major challenge: Dravid
India's next big test will be an away series against New Zealand in October. This will be followed by a home series against Australia, starting January 2027.
Dravid said that the New Zealand tour will be a major challenge, especially for younger players who have little experience of playing in those conditions.
"New Zealand away, (is) always a challenge. (They are a) tough team, New Zealand, to play away from home. A lot of the young Indian boys have not played in those conditions, so that's going to be a big challenge," he said.
Anticipation
Australia will be eager to perform in India: Dravid
After New Zealand, India will host Australia in a five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series from January 2027.
Dravid thinks the Australian players will be eager to perform well in India after their recent Test series failures here.
"A lot of their players will be very keen to do well in India," he said, adding that this generation of Australian players is yet to win a Test series on Indian soil.
Injuries
Dravid doesn't want injuries to hamper Team India
Dravid further stressed on the importance of players' availability for crucial series.
"Hopefully, they can keep the guys fit and not have a lot of injuries over the next few months.
We're missing the experience of Virat (Kohli) and Rohit (Sharma), Ajinkya Rahane and (Cheteshwar) Pujara, these kinds of guys who've probably been there the last time India went. So that will be an interesting series as well," Dravid added.