Rahul Dravid, one of the greatest cricketers in the world to have ever graced the cricket pitch has gone distant after his retirement. His influence, however, is still felt in the IPL. This season of IPL has seen some great performances from relatively young players like Shaw, Kishan, Samson and Gill. Although they play for different teams there is one connection that binds them all together. That connection is Rahul Dravid.
To understand the relation between these four players and Rahul Dravid we need to go back to the under-19 World Cup of 2018. India won the final against Australia chasing a total of 216 in just 38 overs. It was one of the most dominating performances in a world cup final. In the whole tournament, the Indian players showed maturity beyond their age. Winning the tournament without losing a single match shows the supremacy of that team. A proper pace attack in that team was something that not even the senior side has seen to date. Players like Nagarkotti and Mavi could bowl consistently above 140kmph, something that was never seen before in an Indian team. Maybe that’s what you get when a youth team is coached by the great Rahul Dravid.
The excellence of that team could be solely credited to Rahul Dravid who combined the talent of those players to his maturity. Just as I’m writing this article, Nagarkoti is on his stride with a figure of 2 wickets in 1 over with 2 runs given against KXIP. Players like Kishan, Samson, Shubhman Gill, Mavi, Nagakoti, Riyan Parag were all coached by Rahul Dravid in that world cup winning team. Now they’re doing better than some senior players for their respective IPL franchises.
Declined the Head Coach Position for the Senior Team?
Rahul Dravid was asked to coach the senior team but he declined citing a lack of time for his family. Vinod Rai, the former panellist of the BCCI revealed that Rahul Dravid was asked to mentor the senior team but he did not agree to it. If the performance of his under-19 players in this year’s IPL is anything to go by, Rahul Dravid sure is an incredible coach. Though he has declined any coaching positions as of now, it would be very exciting to see him in a coaching role in the future. For now, his students are lighting up the IPL
