Former Indian men’s team Head coach Rahul Dravid highlights the impact skipper Rohit Sharma had on the dressing room. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Former India head coach Rahul Dravid hailed skipper Rohit Sharma and said it was his privilege to work with him.
Rohit Sharma has earned laurels in white-ball cricket, and his impressive tally speaks volumes about his prowess in limited-over cricket. Rohit has garnered 14,846 runs, three double hundreds, 33 hundreds, and 87 fifties in ODIs and T20Is combined. Besides his mouth-watering tally, Rohit is a two-time ICC T20 World Cup (2007 and 2024) and ICC Champions Trophy winner.
He holds the record for most sixes in the shortest format. Rohit’s stint as India’s T20I skipper was a memorable one. He overtook Dhoni as the most successful T20I captain with 49 wins in 62 matches.
Speaking to Star Sports, Dravid said Rohit Sharma was a “fantastic leader”. “I think it was a privilege to work with Rohit. In these two and a half years, I think he was a fantastic leader. People really gravitated toward him, the team. I think that makes a big difference.” said Rahul Dravid.
“There were a lot of other senior players as well, whether it was Virat, Bumrah, or Ashwin in Test cricket that we played. So many of them – just because a lot of Indian cricketers are big names, and they are superstars, and rightly so, and they’re followed by so many people – sometimes people think that they have big egos and that they are very difficult to manage.” Dravid said.
“A lot of these superstars are actually very humble about their preparation. They are humble about their work ethic. And that is why they are superstars. Look at Ashwin today; at this age, he’s willing to adapt, he’s willing to learn. So just one example. Of course, at times you have to manage them, manage their bodies, manage the workload, a lot of those things. But to be honest, it was not very difficult.” he added.
Dravid said “I had a good group of people around me. And it was a privilege and a pleasure to work with some of these guys. And I’m happy we were able to create a good environment. But a lot of the credit must go to the captain and the senior people who, to be honest, actually drive a team,”.
Rahul Dravid had a fine career as a coach for Team India, finishing with an ICC T20 World Cup trophy after a thrilling win over South Africa this year in June at Barbados. Before this, India ended as runners-up in the 50-over World Cup at home last year after a dominant 10-match win streak, losing to Australia. They also ended up as runners-up in the ICC World Test Championship to Australia last year. India also won the 50-over Asia Cup last year.
