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Rahul Dravid: The Unsung Captain Of Team India

Rahul Dravid: The Unsung Captain Of Team India: Every player aims to earn a place for himself among the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, and several other extraordinary talents, but did you know there was a man who came, lived his dream and dominated world cricket as no other batter had done before.

Fondly regarded as the ‘Wall,’ Rahul Dravid is one of the finest middle-order batsmen the world has ever witnessed.  Yes, Dravid’s contribution to Indian cricket is immense. Dravid has single-handedly won several games for team India and has contributed much more than any other player for team India. Yes, you heard it right. Dravid is still winning matches for team India. The right-handed Indian batter, after retiring from world cricket, took the job that no other big cricketing name had taken before. 

Dravid took full responsibility for grooming the younger generation of Indian cricket. Players such as Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Arshdeep Singh and several other young guns are groomed by Dravid. The cricketers mentioned above may someday represent team India and maintain the glory of Indian cricket. 

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From a dependable player to a dependable coach

Thanks to the efforts of Ganguly, Dravid is the head coach for team India and is now receiving the fame and credit he deserved in his prime years. Looking at the overall performance of team India, I am assured that the ‘Men In Blue will play the finals of ODI World Cup 2023 and Rahul Dravid will do what Lalchand Rajput and MS Dhoni did for team India back in the 2007 World Cup.

You may have seen Dravid performing wonders with his bat, but only a few know about his coaching stints. After retiring from cricket, Dravid joined the Rajasthan Royals, backroom staff. His journey towards becoming a successful coach was decent initially, as RR was eliminated from the IPL playoffs by a small margin. 

After that, Dravid led India’s Under 19 squad, which made it to the finals twice. In 2016, a team led by future Indian international players Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, and Washington Sundar advanced to the final and was defeated by the West Indies. Two years later, Dravid-led Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, and Riyan Parag beat Australia and won the ICC Under 19 title.  

After dominating the Under 19 contest, Dravid was given a new responsibility when the veteran was appointed as the head of cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in July 2019. The best part of his tenure as NCA head was that many young players were groomed under his supervision, which helped the Indian national cricket team strengthen their bench. 

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Rahul Dravid: The most dependable captain 

Being a huge fan of Dhoni, sometimes I wonder, was the amount of calmness and positive approach the team India carried because of Dhoni or Dravid? Dhoni taught team India never to lose hope. On the other hand, Ganguly led India to win the bilateral series and utilized aggression to make it huge for team India. 

MS Dhoni and Saurav Ganguly are among the best captains the world has ever witnessed. But, there was a time when the BCCI faced backlash, and Indian cricket was disrupted as it had never encountered before. 

Every cricketing fan across the globe may have heard about the rift between Saurav Ganguly and Greg Chappell. This controversy is widely remembered, and I still see people discussing the matter. Cricket in India was in big trouble, and the BCCI needed someone to step in and save the glory of Indian cricket. In this terrible situation, Dravid took the captaincy and rebuilt an essential thing that a team needs—trust.

How many of you remember this brilliant captaincy move by Rahul Dravid?pic.twitter.com/8gY9idyiAj

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) April 29, 2020

As mentioned above, stepping into the shoes of Ganguly in the 2000s was not everyone’s cup of tea. However, under Dravid’s leadership, India won several memorable games and improved dramatically in One Day Internationals (ODI). Youngsters like Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, and Yuvraj Singh were also groomed during his tenure.

Dravid captained India in 20 Tests and 62 One-Day Internationals after taking over as the full-time captain from Ganguly. During that time, India won a series in the West Indies, Bangladesh, and, most notably, England. 

Dravid was the first Indian captain to win four consecutive series. He oversaw India’s record-breaking winning streak of 16 back-to-back successful chases. However, all that hard work was undone when India was eliminated from the 2007 ODI World Cup after the group stage.

However, Dravid’s peculiar qualities as a leader can never be overlooked. One proof of his leadership skill is the infamous Sachin Tendulkar declaration in the 2004 Multan Test. Being just his second Test as captain due to the regular skipper Ganguly’s injury, Dravid took the brave decision of declaring the Indian innings with Tendulkar batting on 194. The controversial decision continues to divide fans to date. Many fans believe India did not need to rush at that point. However, one cannot deny that Dravid never put personal interests ahead of the team. He had his own set of strong beliefs, along with the courage to stand by his beliefs.

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What is Rahul Dravid?

As cricketing fans and spectators, we can all watch, observe and draw conclusions from what we see during the game. But the best people to tell about Dravid are the players who have shared dressing rooms, dugouts, and net practices and spent time with him during games. So here’s what cricketers have to say about the ‘wall of Indian cricket.’

Saurav Ganguly

“Every captain has their way – there are captains who think differently, and Rahul Dravid was also one captain who thought differently, but he was very clear in his communication. He would say, “this is your role, and you must work accordingly.” He was such a great team player. His style of captaincy was also for the team.

Whenever there was a problem, he was always there. Sometimes it gets difficult to communicate with a captain because things surround them. But Dravid was one such captain you could even approach at 2 am with a problem. A captain’s role is to keep communication with all the players, and he did that.”

Irfan Pathan

“It is unfortunate that we do not give Rahul Dravid enough credit for his captaincy. We only talk about Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni, now we talk about Virat Kohli, but Rahul Dravid has been a fabulous captain for India. Even with his records, he’s the most underrated cricketer and underrated leader.”

Gautam Gambhir

“We won in England, West Indies, we won some 14 or 15 games on the trot. If you look at Dravid as a cricketer, if you asked him to open the batting in Test cricket, he did. He batted at No 3, kept wickets for India, batted as a finisher, did everything Indian cricket asked him or a captain asked him to do, and that is the kind of role model you want.”

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Lesser known records of Rahul Dravid

Indeed one of the best Test batters in the world, Dravid holds the record for spending the most time at the crease in Test cricket. Apart from Dravid, no other batter has spent 735 hours and 52 minutes (44,152 minutes) on the pitch. Talking more about his Test records, Dravid is also one of few batters who has smashed four consecutive centuries in Test cricket. 

• 115 vs ENG at Nottingham
• 148 vs ENG at Leeds
• 217 vs ENG at The Oval
• 100* vs WI at Mumbai

Dravid has also faced most balls in Test cricket. In his Test career, Dravid has faced 31,258 balls, most by any batter. No other batter in the world has achieved this feat to date. 

Oldest player to debut in T20 Internationals 

Dravid was considered the best in the world when it comes to red-ball cricket. However, the veteran represented India in T20I when he was 38 years and 232 days old, making him the oldest player to feature in a T20I for India and the second oldest in the world. Rafatullah Mohmand of Pakistan is the only player ahead of Dravid on the list. He was 39 years old when he made his debut against England in 2015. Rafatullah went on to play two more T20Is after his debut. 

Did you know?

• Dravid became India’s first Test captain to win a match on South African soil in 2016.
• The wall scored 461 runs in the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, held in England.
• Dravid has the second-most runs and hundreds in Test cricket for India.
• During Dravid’s career, India won 15 Tests in foreign countries (excluding matches in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe). 
• Dravid scored 1,577 runs at an average of 65.70, which is higher than Tendulkar’s total and average.
• Eight of his 11 Man-of-the-Match awards came in overseas Tests, and five came in overseas wins, including unforgettable performances in Headingley (2002), Adelaide (2003), Rawalpindi (2004), and Kingston (2006).
• Dravid and Glenn McGrath were honoured on 1st November 2012 at Sydney’s seventh annual Bradman Awards ceremony.
• In July 2018, Dravid became the fifth Indian cricketer inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

Indeed Dravid is someone who played the gentleman’s game like a true gentleman. He was someone who chose the non-striker’s end and allowed his partners to shine bright in the limelight, and thus Dravid’s service to Indian cricket is not appreciated by many. India won the 2011 ODI World Cup for Sachin Tendulkar, and I hope the Men In Blue do the same in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023. 

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