This is crunch time for Rahul Dravid: Ex-BCCI selector after India's disappointing exit from Asia Cup 2022

India head coach Rahul Dravid has been on the receiving end of strong criticism after his team's disappointing exit from the ongoing Asia Cup 2022. Defending champions India were dumped out after back-to-back defeatsagainst Pakistan and Sri Lanka in their first two Super Four clashes.

They went on to register a big win in the dead-rubber against Afghanistan in the final encounter but that was not enough to paper over the cracks that emerged inthe team's campaign in the Asia Cup. India's exit from the tournament has served as a wake up call for the team ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia this year.

Former India selector Saba Karim believes it is 'crunch time' for Dravid as the honeymoon period is over for him now as the head coach of the Indian team. With the T20 World Cup this year and the ODI World Cup next year, nothing less than the title will be treated as success for Dravid and his support staff.

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"Well, even Rahul Dravid is aware that the honeymoon period is over, and he is trying his best to be an alchemist but so far, such metals haven't been converted into core. One would expect him to do that. This is crunch time for Rahul Dravid," Saba Karim said on Sports18.

"With the World Cup T20 coming up, next year the ODI World Cup coming up. These two big ICC events, if India can win both these championships then only Rahul Dravid will be satisfied with the kind of inputs he has given to team India," he added.

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Dravid was appointed as the head coach of the Indian team after Ravi Shastri's exit last year and the expectations were high from the legend. India have enjoyed great success under him as far as bilateral series are concerned, however, the team failed to deliver in their first major ICC tournament under him.

Karim, who played 34 ODIs and one Test for India, believes Dravid would love to swap the bilateral series wins with the one-off Test that India lost against England or the Test series that India lost against South Africa, however, that is the kind of challenges he faces as the head coach of the team.

"If given an option Rahul Dravid would love to have those Test series win in South Africa and the last Test match in England. He would love to swap that with so many bilateral wins that India has got under his belt. But that's the nature of the challenges which Rahul Dravid has to face," said Karim.

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"See Rahul is sensible and intelligent enough to understand that the only way he can define a successful tenure of his coaching career is if India - number one, wins ICC events and number two it starts to win Test series in SENA countries. I'm not talking about Test wins. Test wins even while Rahul Dravid was playing, India has done that. But more importantly, when India starts to win in SENA countries, the Test series, that's when Rahul Dravid will be very happy with team India's performance," he explained.