IND vs SA: Rahul Dravid rules out 200-plus score in T20 World Cup Final

Barbados,UPDATED: Jun 28, 2024 23:27 IST

India head coach Rahul Dravid has ruled out any advantage due to familiarity with the Barbados wicket. Speaking in the pre-match press conference ahead of the final of the T20 World Cup 2024 against South Africa, Dravid has also said that there is no chance the final will be a high-scoring game. India have played Afghanistan in Barbados in the Super 8 stage of the competition, but South Africa are yet to play in the venue. Despite that added experience, Dravid believes that India do not have an advantage going into the final.

The Indian team have been on a tremendous run in the T20 World Cup 2024. India are unbeaten in the tournament so far, much like South Africa. Dravid said that India's ability to adapt quickly sets them apart, and they would like to do the same in the final of the tournament.

"I mean, just the fact that we played a game in Barbados is nice. It's nice that we have that familiarity there of having played on that surface in the past. But again, I think it's very hard to... We're not going to get exactly the same wicket that we got last time. It can be different. And I think what's really important and I think what we've done really well as a group, I think in this whole tournament, is we have shown the ability to adapt, to recognise what is a good score," Rahul Dravid said in the pre-match press conference ahead of the final in Barbados.

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The Indian head coach, who will be at the helm of the team for the last time in the final of the tournament, hailed India's ability to adapt in tough conditions and said that India have been able to quickly work out the par totals in all the venues that they have played in, and have managed to score strong totals in all their games.

"We played very differently in New York, than we played at St. Lucia. Then we played even in Barbados in the first game and I thought that the wicket was quite slow. But again, for a final, we are not really sure what we are going to come up against. And I'm just hoping that whatever we come up against, we will have the ability to recognize it and to be able to play accordingly, as we've done in the last three games. I think both Antigua and Saint Lucia were probably slightly better batting wickets than this one. But we got what we thought was a par-plus score in both those games. And here again, slightly slower, and lower. Not a bad wicket by any stretch of the imagination, but slightly slower and lower and we got a par plus score again. So, I think that should be the aim. It's not about only getting 200 here. 170 was like a 200. So, it's just about figuring out what it is. And hopefully, when we get to Barbados, we'll see what it's like," concluded Dravid on the matter.

India have flown out to Barbados right after their semi-final against England. India have cancelled their practice session ahead of the final of the tournament. India will rest and recover and straightaway get into the action on Saturday, 29 June.

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