"He will turn this team around" - Sourav Ganguly on Rahul Dravid's tenure as Team India's head coach

Sourav Ganguly has showered praise on Team India head coach Rahul Dravid, saying that his former teammate will make the side a lot better.

Dravid took over the job after Ravi Shastri stepped down after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. India have done exceptionally well under the former batter, barring the last edition of the T20 World Cup where they crashed out of the semi-finals, losing to eventual winners England.

Ganguly said that while Dravid has done well so far as Team India's head coach, he needs more time to make his mark.

"He has done very well except for the T20 World Cup," BCCI told Sportstar. "The team still went to the semi-finals and was just one match away from the final. He will do well. You have to give him time, he has just had one year. It’s too short a time for a coach. He will turn this team around.

"You can see Shubman Gill emerging as a very good batter and you will see a few others develop as well. There’s Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), who has done well in the shorter format. So, you have to give some time to Rahul. He will do well."

Dravid's next assignment will be the upcoming four-match home Test series against Australia. India will look to maintain their dominance on home soil and book their spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

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"He needs a Test hundred against good attacks" - Sourav Ganguly on Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara, who has played in 98 Tests, is a vital batter for India in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He had a good run in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh in December last year and will hope to carry on the momentum.

Ganguly noted that the upcoming series will be massive for the Saurashtra batter as he needs to score runs against good bowling attacks.

"He’s playing his 100th Test in Delhi and that’s a great achievement," Ganguly said. "He will be the 13th Indian to play 100 Test matches and he totally deserves it. But he also needs to be at his best because after the last three years, even he needs a Test hundred against good attacks. It will be a big series for him."

The first Test of the four-match series will take place at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, starting on Thursday, February 9.

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