'That has become a challenge...': Rahul Dravid explains why India's Test record has dipped

Former India head coach Rahul Dravid pointed to the packed international calendar as a key factor behind the team's recent struggles in Tests. He feels that the players featuring across the three formats are not able to prepare well for red-ball cricket as they do not spend enough time honing their skills. This has began to reflect in India's Test results.

India's underwhelming performance in Tests

India's performances have significantly dipped under the guidance of Gautam Gambhir when it comes to Tests. They hadn't lost a home series for 12 years before New Zealand recorded a 3-0 series victory over them in November, 2024. The team also suffered a 2-0 series whitewash at home to South Africa in November, 2025. Not to mention that the Men in Blue also suffered a 3-1 series defeat to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series 2024/25.

Speaking on India's disappointing form in red-ball cricket, Dravid reflected on his experiences as head coach and said that he had a lot of difficulty in managing players who played in all the three formats.

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“One of the things I understood as a coach, especially the guys that play all three formats, they keep moving from one format to the other. In my generation, when there were only two formats in the game, and there wasn't really the idea of franchise cricket, there were a lot of times where I would have a whole month of practicing for a Test series and I would be able to play with the red ball, and I would be able to develop my skills,” Dravid said at the launch of the book The Rise of the Hitman: The Rohit Sharma Story in Bengaluru.

“Now, one of the things that has become a bit tougher in red-ball cricket is a lot of our guys who play all three formats, or who play the amount of cricket that they are playing, sometimes don't have the time to be able to practise red-ball cricket as much,” he added.

India on WTC points table

Team India's recent struggles in Tests have seen them them make a rather underwhelming start to the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. They currently stand sixth on the standings with four victories in nine matches. They have a PCT of 48.15 and are behind the likes of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan. Shubman Gill & Co. will be looking to improve their performance as red-ball action resumes later this year.