Mumbai: India coach Rahul Dravid mentioned a very special challenge that the Indian team gave themselves during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 while he assessed his team's run during the tournament.
India have shown exceptional form in the ongoing Cricket World Cup, having won all their nine group stage games and are the only undefeated side in the tournament.
Barring minor hiccups, such as being 2/3 against Australia in Chennai and being reduced to 229/9 against England in Lucknow, which were easily overcome, India have been a vehement force in the event.
Speaking to Star Sports, Dravid referred to a special mission that the side gave themselves as a motivating factor behind these wins.
"We set ourselves a little bit of challenge ahead of the World Cup. Thousands of fans in nine different cities, and passion of our fans. We really wanted to put our best foot forward and give a really good display. And I think the boys have responded and done really well," he said.
India were the only side to feature in nine different venues, a new one for each of their group game, during the World Cup.
Dravid was really happy with their latest outing, a tremendous win over Netherlands in Bengaluru.
"We had six days off, so it was really nice to get a game before the semi-finals. Just to get those cobwebs out, it was good we got what we needed. Five of our batsmen getting in there, getting their starts. A couple of boys going on and getting some really good hundreds," he said.
He also opined that the experimentation with the ball benefitted the side.
"And then with the ball as well, just gave us an opportunity after we got that big score to be able to mix and match a little bit and look at some of the other options that hopefully we don’t need. But we may need," Dravid said.
Dravid displayed great confidence in his batting unit, and was especially pleased at the work done by his middle-order.
"I think our middle-order has been fantastic. Obviously, the top-order gets to bat all the time and has been scoring a lot of runs for us. When you look at the leaderboard on the numbers, you’ll see the Kohlis and the Sharmas, and rightly so," he said.
"They’ve been batting fantastically and batting really well. But the middle-order is critical because you’re always playing in pressure situations," Dravid said.
"They don’t always play every single game, sometimes they get to bat after 30 overs when the ball is soft, when the ball is older. The wicket is getting slower as well, and for them to bat the way they are, whether it is Shreyas Iyer, whether it is KL Rahul, you know even Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) or even Surya Suryakumar Yadav in the knock he got," Dravid said.
"It just gives us the confidence that we’ve got that experience, we’ve got the ability and we’ve also got them in form and playing really well getting into the semi-finals," he said.
India will face-off against New Zealand at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai in the first semi-final of the World Cup on November 15. (UNI)