Gautam Gambhir praises Rahul Dravid for declining the Honorary Doctorate from Bangalore University

Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid were teammates for many years

What’s the story?

Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has praised former India captain Rahul Dravid for declining the Honorary Doctorate which was to be awarded to him by the Bangalore University on Friday.

Taking to Twitter, the 35-year-old said he was proud of the current India A and Under-19 coach for making such a decision and agreed with him that such a distinction needed to be earned.

Proud of Rahul Dravid for declining honorary doctorate of Bangalore University. He says he wants 2 earn it and that is the way it should b.

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) January 27, 2017

In case you didn’t know..

Dravid was to be bestowed with the honour on Friday, but he said he wished to earn the doctorate by accomplishing some form of academic research in the field of sports instead of a receiving an honorary degree.

The heart of the matter

Gambhir further went on to add that he was never a fan of honorary degrees being awarded in any line of profession and added that India needed real heroes and not honorary ones.

 

I've always maintained decorative,honorary positions should NEVER happen whatever d profession. My country needs Real Heroes, not honorary.

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) January 27, 2017

What’s next?

Gambhir is among the first players to react to the news of Dravid declining the doctorate and it will be interesting to see if more players also come out and support Dravid’s decision.

Sportskeeda’s take

It is indeed great to see players come and out express their views on the decision taken by Dravid and one hopes that in the coming years, the former India captain accomplishes his goal and gets that deserved doctorate.