India national men's cricket team remained unbeaten across the league stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. Despite that, head coach Rahul Dravid has claimed that there is pressure on his team to perform in the semi-final and beyond.
India head coach Rahul Dravid has no hesitation in admitting that his side's World Cup semi-final against New Zealand on Wednesday would be a high-pressure game and there are simply no guarantees even after a near flawless performance in the nine league games. (IND vs NED Recap |Scorecard | Full Coverage)
"I would be in-authentic if I say that there will be no pressure of semi-final. You have no guarantees to win any game of cricket. What you can do is prepare the best you can and we've been doing that," Dravid told Star Sports after India's 160-run win over the Netherlands.
It now boils down to two good matches and everything could come to a naught if India lose to a team that had caused them grief in 2019.
"When it's going well it looks good. One loss and everyone says you don't know anything," Dravid replied cheekily when told about how the broadcasters were analysing his performance in the league games.
Iyer Matching Dravid's Expectations
Dravid was particularly happy with how Shreyas Iyer has been showing consistency at the back-end of the tournament.
"Shreyas Iyer is the backbone of our middle order, and we all know how tough it has been for us to find a good No. 4 batter for the last 10 years," Dravid said.