Rahul Dravid received a guard of honour in a local cricket academy in Bengaluru© Instagram
Rahul Dravid‘s stint as India’s head coach came to a fairytale end as under his guidance, Rohit Sharma and Co lifted the T20 World Cup 2024 trophy. After remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament, Team India edged past South Africa by seven runs in a thrilling grand finale. Dravid, who never won any ICC title in his entire career as a player, finally fulfilled his dream as a coach. To make the occasion more memorable, the victory came on his last day as a coach as Dravid’s two and a half years stint ended after the World Cup.
After the end of his coaching stint, Dravid visited a local cricket academy in Bengaluru and received a warm reception from the staff and the players. All the staff members gave a huge round of applause to the World Cup winning coach while the kids gave him a guard of honour by lifting their bats.
A ‘gentleman’, as he is, Dravid asked the kids to lower their bats, and thanked them for the gesture.
Earlier during Team India’s felicitation ceremony in Mumbai, Dravid revealed how a phone call from skipper Rohit Sharma stopped him from leaving his position after the World Cup final loss in 2023.
“I wasn’t really sure, if I was going to continue after the 50 overs World Cup and obviously there was a great joy of having had a fantastic ODI World Cup, but also the disappointment of not crossing the line was there. For Rohit to pick up the phone to me and say Rahul lets have one more crack at it in 6 or eight months time. It will be lovely to have a crack together. I think that was best phone call of my life,” said Dravid.
On the other hand, legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar also said it would be apt if Rahul Dravid is conferred with the Bharat Ratna by the Indian government.
“It would be apt if the Government of India honours him with the Bharat Ratna, for that’s what he has truly been. Great player and captain of the country with famous away series wins in the West Indies when wins there really meant something and also win in England being only among the three Indian captains to have won a Test match series there, a wonderful talent groomer in his earlier role of the chairman of the National Cricket Academy and then as coach of the senior team,” Gavaskar had said.
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