I was in the commentary box in Dubai when news came in that Rahul Dravid had been formally appointed Head Coach of the Indian cricket team. Sir Clive Lloyd, one of the greatest captains the sport has seen, was very excited by the decision. “Rahul Dravid will be a very successful head coach for India,” he said. “Someone who has scored 13,000 Test runs will have the respect in the dressing room to tell anyone where they are going wrong. His personality is such that he will not want the limelight, and yet get the job done. Wish the West Indies had someone like him to help the national team.”
There were/are huge expectations of Dravid from all around the cricket world. From suggesting that “India appoints the wall to rebuild”, to making the point that the Dravid-era would be more process-driven, there has been a lot of talk on what he brings to the table. Why is he the man for the job? Is he really the best choice, for not always do great cricketers make great coaches? Can he replicate his success at the age-group level with the senior team?
A deep dive into Dravid’s philosophy does leave us with some pointers. “When you play team sport, you need to do the not-so-glamourous things to be able to make a difference,” he had said to me a at a corporate event, when I asked him how he looked back on his stint as wicketkeeper for India. “You are the one responsible for the environment around you, and it is important you do the things that not many will want to do. That’s why it’s a team.”
While he was outlining his philosophy, not once did I sense any regret. Not many would have wanted to keep wickets at the time, but for Dravid, it was a job that had to be done from the standpoint of the team. And he did so, no questions asked.
“I can tell you I was the most grumpy at the end of a day’s play if I had dropped a catch, which I believed could have been taken,” he said during the same conversation. “Much more than getting out for zero, dropping a catch made me really upset and grumpy. Getting out early was more a personal disappointment. Yes, the runs were for the team and all, but it was still more personal than anything else. But dropping a catch meant I was not able to do something for a teammate, and that upset me more. A catch allows you to enjoy as a team and be happy at someone else’s success, and may I say that’s what team sport is all about.”
From the above words, two things are clear. First, Dravid will do his best to ensure that individual egos and fancies don’t take precedence in the dressing room. Second, he will push the boys to do things that may not get them the headline the following morning, but could result in India winning the match.
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With Dravid, there is always a sense of acceptance. As a player, he was brilliant and yet had to contend with a Sachin Tendulkar in the same dressing room. Had it not been for Tendulkar, Dravid could well have been the greatest batter ever for India. With many, this could have led to jealousy. A sense of missing out on something. Losing out on key endorsements and more. Tendulkar was always the Pele in the dressing room, while Dravid was more Gérson. To accept that and score 13,000-plus runs is testimony to what Dravid brought to the table.
A look at the Indian batting line-up when Dravid played at No.3 helps answer some of these questions. As opener, India had in their ranks Virender Sehwag, a man who redefined the contours of Test-match batting at the top. With Sehwag, you were always the second fiddle. In fact, if you tried to match him, you would lose out. Dravid said it nicely, “All I did was enjoy. I knew I couldn’t play the shots he did, so I just kept doing what I knew well. Kept batting!”.
At No.4 was Tendulkar, arguably the greatest batter after Sir Donald Bradman. At five was VVS Laxman, whose artistry with the bat was second to none, and one who played some of the greatest second-innings gems the world has seen. Finally, at No.6 was Sourav Ganguly, whose off-side elegance is still talked about in world cricket. To be a stand-out performer in this batting line-up was difficult, and to do so time and again was near-impossible. Dravid did so with huge success, without ever craving the limelight. He was able to do so, I would argue, for two reasons. The first was his attention to detail, and the second his commitment to the process.
Even the CRED advert that he did, one that took the media world by storm, was an extension of the very same philosophy. “You see, when they first mentioned it to me, I was a little anxious!” he told me with a laugh when I asked him about the Indira-Nagar-ka-Gunda story. “But then, the two people who spoke to me are well-established professionals. I decided to trust them for they knew what they were doing. I always believed things are best left to the men who know. I told them if it did not go well, I would give them a call. And if it did go well, I would still call them and they would know from my tone what I felt! I did give them a call, and said it worked out okay.”
The one thing Dravid has to achieve is to help India win a world event. Under Ravi Shastri, Indian cricket reached great heights by winning Test series against Australia in Australia in 2018 and again in 2021. To beat Australia twice in their backyard was a huge achievement, and that’s something Dravid will have to match. India also led the Test series against England 2-1 when Covid stopped play, and much would be expected of Dravid’s team when they line up for the WTC final, more so after India failed in the last T20 World Cup in Australia.
During his playing career, the closest Dravid came to winning a trophy was at the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in 2002, when torrential downpours on consecutive evenings resulted in the spoils being shared with the hosts. A few months later, at the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, India lost to Australia in the final. While he won a world title with the U-19 team, winning at the senior level is very different.
It is certainly an unfulfilled dream, and something that surely drives him as Head Coach. Soon after the WTC final, India will also play the World Cup on home soil in October-November. Can Dravid steer the team to win at least one of these tournaments? That’s what will define his legacy as coach. Can he be Indira Nagar ka Gunda, and help India win a major competition for the first time since 2013? To do so, Dravid will have to ensure that there are no cracks in the wall, especially in a big final.
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