Former India head coach Rahul Dravid hailed skipper Rohit Sharma and said it was his privilege to work with the 37-year-old. Rohit has earned laurels in white-ball cricket, and his impressive tally speaks volumes about his prowess in limited-over cricket. Rohit has garnered 14,846 runs, three double hundreds, 33 hundreds, and 87 fifties in ODIs and T20Is combined. Apart from his mouth-watering tally, Rohit is a two-time ICC T20 World Cup (2007 and 2024) and ICC Champions Trophy winner. He also holds the record for most sixes in the shortest format.
Rohit’s stint as India’s T20I skipper was a memorable one. He overtook Dhoni as the most successful T20I captain with 49 wins in 62 matches. Dhoni had 41 victories from 72 games. Also to top it off, he led India to the ICC T20 World Cup title after a thrilling win in the final against South Africa at Barbados, ending India’s ICC trophy drought of 11 years.
Speaking to Star Sports, Dravid said Rohit Sharma was a “fantastic leader”. He added that people are “gravitated” towards him and the Men in Blue.
“I think it was a privilege to work with Rohit. In these two and a half years, I think he was a fantastic leader. People really gravitated towards him, the team. I think that makes a big difference. There were a lot of other senior players as well, whether it was Virat, Bumrah, or Ashwin in Test cricket that we played. So many of them–just because a lot of Indian cricketers are big names, and they are superstars, and rightly so, and they’re followed by so many people–sometimes people think that they have big egos and that they are very difficult to manage.” Dravid said.
The former India head coach added that people think that big players like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and others are very “humble” and don’t have any egos.
“But actually, I think it’s just the opposite. A lot of these superstars are actually very humble about their preparation. They are humble about their work ethic. And that is why they are superstars. Look at Ashwin today; at this age, he’s willing to adapt, he’s willing to learn. So just one example. Of course, at times you have to manage them, manage their bodies, manage the workload, a lot of those things. But to be honest, it was not very difficult. I had a good group of people around me. And it was a privilege and a pleasure to work with some of these guys. And I’m happy we were able to create a good environment. But a lot of the credit must go to the captain and the senior people who, to be honest, actually drive a team,” he added.
Dravid had a fine career as a coach for Team India, finishing with an ICC T20 World Cup trophy after a thrilling win over South Africa this year in June at Barbados. Before this, India ended as runners-up in the 50-over World Cup at home last year after a dominant 10-match win streak, losing to Australia. They also ended up as runners-up in the ICC World Test Championship to Australia last year. India also won the 50-over Asia Cup last year.
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