Rahul Dravid explains why India opted to field first after winning toss in ICC WTC final

India head coach Rahul Dravid has defended India's decision to bowl first in the ICC WTC final against Australia.

India's head coach Rahul Dravid justified the team's choice to bowl first in the World Test Championship Final against Australia, citing the influence of overcast conditions and the grassy pitch. However, India's pursuit of a record 444 ended in disappointment as they were dismissed for 234 on the fifth day, leading to their second consecutive WTC Final loss by a significant margin of 209 runs. Rahul Dravid faced challenging inquiries from commentator Sourav Ganguly during the WTC Final.

During the World Test Championship Final, Sourav Ganguly, a former teammate of Rahul Dravid, questioned the rationale behind India's decision to bowl first. In response, Rahul Dravid clarified that the decision was not made with the intention of handling pressure.

"We decided to bowl first in the Test match because the conditions were overcast and there was quite a lot of grass on the pitch," Dravid said.

"So, we thought that it would get easier to bat on later in the pitch and that was the same case here also. Most teams in recent times have opted to field first in England," Dravid said.

"We thought that it was a great decision when Aussies were at 70/3 and then we leaked a lot of runs in the next two sessions. Even if we would have gotten them out by 300, we would have been in the game. We could have had a chance in the fourth innings," the India head coach added.

Dravid conveyed that the team had a strong belief in their ability to successfully pursue a target of 300 or more runs in the fourth innings.

"We had hoped that however behind we were, we could've shown more fight but we knew we needed exceptional performances. It was not a 469-run wicket. We gave away a lot of runs -- bowling was disappointing. We played some poor shots yesterday," Dravid said.

India still getting close to winning big trophies, says Dravid

Dravid was confronted with a question about India's inability to clinch an ICC trophy in the last ten years, highlighting their last global victory in the form of the Champions Trophy back in 2013.

"You have a good point that we haven't won a major ICC trophy since 2013. We are getting close. We are getting to the semifinals, we are getting to finals, but I don't think we played our best game in the last five days. We will be going through the data, the numbers, and stats...we will look back and see." "We have been at our best, in the T20 World Cup but we are getting close," concluded Dravid.