Rahul Dravid makes big admission: 'New Zealand mostly knock us out of ICC tournaments'

India head coach Rahul Dravid has revealed that there came a situation during the 5th and final day of the 4th Test between India and Australia where the players got tensed. While the match was nearing a draw, players' attention shifted towards another match, which had a direct impact on the contention for the World Test Championship final. The match was New Zealand vs Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka, who were in the race to qualify for the WTC final and needed a 2-0 win over resilient New Zealand, were close to completing 50% of the mission on Monday as they ushered NZ to the spot of bother. However, their hopes were crushed after Kane Williamson completed the single on the final ball of the day with a full-stretch dive. NZ won the match by two wickets, and this paved the way for India to enter the final of the two-year-long tournament constituting the longest format of the game. Though the result helped India's cause, coach Dravid says Team India wasn't too pleased with New Zealand's approach on the 5th day.

 'New Zealand mostly knock us out of ICC tournaments': Rahul Dravid

"We were eagerly watching, hoping Sri Lanka doesn't win. The World Test Championship is a two-year-long event, all the teams play six Test series each, so it's natural you'll be dependent on others. Although you have to put in your best but in competitions such as this you are also dependent on others.

“The good thing is that New Zealand, who mostly knock us out of ICC tournaments, gave us little support. We are thankful to them. We were stressed to see New Zealand attack and aim for a victory, instead of thinking of a draw. We were discussing this among ourselves. But we had to make peace with that as New Zealand will definitely target a win rather than playing a draw. In fact we did watch the final 5-6 overs during Lunch on the screen and it got really exciting,” said Dravid.

So, with New Zealand's victory and India's ultimate draw against Australia in Ahmedabad, India have made it through to the final for the second time. They lost the final of the inaugural season to New Zealand. Australia, who breached the threshold after attaining victory in the third Test, will meet India in the WTC Final, to be played from June 7 at The Oval, England.