Former Indian head coach Rahul Dravid believes India has fallen behind a little bit in the WTC final race but refuses to write them off. India won the opening Test match against Sri Lanka by a mammoth margin of 165 runs to keep themselves in contention for the WTC final.

Shubman Gill’s team is currently in fifth place in the WTC standings with a PCT of 53.33. If India goes on to win the second Test match against Sri Lanka, they will leapfrog Bangladesh for fourth place in the standings.

After the Sri Lanka tour, India will play two Test matches against New Zealand in foreign conditions and will host Australia for a five-match Test series. Thus, Team India will have their work cut out to make it to the final of the WTC.

 “I’m hoping they do. It’ll be a great run if India can qualify for the WTC final from here,” Dravid told JioStar when asked if India could still make the summit clash.

“They’ve fallen behind a little bit, but the kind of quality that the Indian team has, you’re not going to write them off at any stage. They started off well against Sri Lanka, so that’s a good first step,” he added.

Dravid admitted that the Test series against New Zealand will be a challenging one for the team.

“New Zealand away is always a challenge. They are a tough team to play away from home. A lot of the young Indian boys have not played in those conditions, so that’s going to be a big challenge,” Dravid said.

“Hopefully, they can keep the guys fit and not have a lot of injuries over the next few months. We’re missing the experience of Virat and Rohit, Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara, these kinds of guys who’ve probably been there the last time India went,” Dravid said.

Meanwhile, India declared after posting 503-9 against Sri Lanka in the first innings of the second Test.