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Don’t Run After Selection – Ajinkya Rahane Reveals Valuable Advice From Rahul Dravid Before International Debut
Rahul Dravid is well known to guide the players on the right track.
10 June 2021 • 3:58 PM
Rahul Dravid with Ajinkya Rahane. Image Credits: PTI
India’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane has always tried to follow in the footsteps of former skipper Rahul Dravid. In fact, a lot of cricket pundits have compared Rahane with Dravid as there are a lot of similarities between the two. Dravid was well known to play the game in the right spirit and Rahane has been doing the same since his debut.
Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane, who led India to a memorable Test series win in Australia, recalled an incident in the nascent stage of his cricket career on how Rahul Dravid motivated him. Rahane revealed that he got good scores of 165 and 98 in the Duleep Trophy final and caught the eyes of Rahul Dravid.
Dravid told Rahane to not think about the national selection despite scoring consistently in the domestic circuit. The former Indian captain advised Rahane to keep scoring the runs and not overthink about the national call-up. The advice worked wonders for Rahane as he concentrated more on his game than think about the uncontrollables.
“I remember in a Duleep Trophy final, we were playing against South Zone in 2008-09 and Rahul Dravid was playing in it in Chennai. I got runs in that game – 165 and 98. Rahul bhai called me up after the game and said, I’ve read about you a lot, you are scoring a lot of runs. As a player, it is very natural that you will start expecting an India call-up. All I would tell you is to keep on doing what you’ve been doing,” Rahane told former India wicketkeeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta in an interview with ESPNCricinfo.
You keep focussing on that and India call-up will come automatically. Don’t run after it, it will follow you. Getting that advice from someone like Rahul bhai really motivated me a lot. That inspired me a lot. He has seen a lot of ups and downs. I got another thousand runs next seasons and two years after that, I was selected.”
Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid is well known to get the best out of the players and he has guided the young guns on the right track while coaching the Under-19 and India A teams. Dravid is currently the director of the National Cricket Academy. On the other hand, Rahane is going to play a crucial role in the WTC final against New Zealand.