Published: Feb 12, 2017, 12:35 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 12, 2017, 12:38 PM (IST)
Rahul Dravid, who is reputed for his calm and composed nature, recently opened up about his experience of coaching the junior India team and how his nature helps him excelling at his job. Under his guidance, India Under-19 team were unbeaten until the final of ICC U-19 World Cup in 2016. The tournament saw many young Indian players display impressive performances. A few months later, Dravid-coached team continued their stellar show on Australia tour. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Bangladesh, one-off Test at Hyderabad
In an interview with Indian Express, Dravid spoke about the different aspects of coaching the U-19 team. “The thing about being a coach is you have sometimes 21 guys at the U-19 level. And not every one of them is doing well. Even if you have won the game, there might be three or four guys who might have failed. The instinct is to think about the guy who hasn’t done well. It’s hard even to enjoy the wins at times,” says Dravid.
“You are thinking about, ‘how can I give that guy more playing time’ or ‘what can we do to get him out of his slump?’ Constantly as a coach, I find that I’m analysing it even more than I was as a captain in that sense. Not that I’m remote-controlling the captain’s decisions. Coaching is sometimes more challenging and time-consuming but is certainly easier than playing. Playing is a lot harder and stressful. You can never match that pressure.”
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Abhishek Sharma, who is the current captain of India U-19 side, revealed an interesting story about Dravid in an interview. Abhishek said that during the team’s celebration after winning the Asia Cup, Dravid entered the dressing room and suddenly there was pin-drop silence. Talking about that instance, Dravid said, “One of the things I recognised when I started coaching, especially at the U-19 level, is when someone who’s played a lot of cricket comes in as coach, players can be a bit hesitant at times. You have a reputation. Just knowing from being a U-19 cricketer myself when a Sunil Gavaskar or a Kapil Dev came to a national camp in Bangalore, I would probably have been tongue-tied and not been able to speak to them.”
“You just have to make things as relaxed as possible. You have to be the first one to approach them at times. But the more time we spend with each other, they get to know me better, especially when we go on tours. I found with the last U-19 team that by the time the World Cup was over, they are pretty confident to come have a chat about things and even share a joke with me.”
Further, when asked about him still being a technology-lover, Dravid replied back by saying, (Laughs) “No, No, I’m still not a technologically savvy guy. It’s pretty much the same. The funny thing is I read only a lot more when I’m on tour. And since I don’t tour as much, I don’t read much. As a coach, the day doesn’t end at 6 pm. It drags on a lot more. You tend to keep thinking a lot more. But I still don’t like being in my room. So I go out, and it relaxes me.”
