"Luckily for us, the boy is grounded, sweet" - Samit Dravid's coaches lavish praise on youngster
Karnataka young cricketer Samit Dravid's coaches lavished praise on his humility, technique and potential to "go all the way" despite the pressures that come with him being Rahul Dravid's son.
Samit, 18, was recently selected for the India Under-19's multi-format series against Australia, his maiden call-up. He scored 362 runs and 16 wickets in Karnataka's Cooch Behar Trophy-winning campaign before doing well for the Mysore Warriors among mostly senior players in the Maharaja Trophy.
“I have no doubt, Samit has it in him to go all the way,” Warriors coach RZ Murali told the Indian Express. “I can’t even imagine the pressure of the shoes he has to fill. But we make sure that in our team that we don’t discuss all that.
"Luckily for us, the boy is grounded, sweet, and all his team-mates have nothing but good stuff to share about him. He is pretty easy-going. He has no airs about where he comes from."
His childhood coach, Karthik Jeshwant, spoke about what Dravid has told him about managing pressure and learning to "live with attention."
“Samit has grown up knowing what his father’s stature is and knows that there is going to be a lot of pressure. So that’s what Rahul and myself have been telling him, not to be bothered about any outside noise or attention.
"He will be judged on his own skills and what he does on the field. He has to learn to live with the attention without it affecting his batting," Jeshwant said.
Samit would know from Arjun Tendulkar's experience that being born to an Indian cricketing legend is never easy. But, at the same time, perhaps Rahul's experiences with coaching India 'A' and Under-19 sides in many tournaments would help him.
"His team-mates here go ‘wow’ at some of his shots" - RX Murali
Murali also detailed Samit's mindset and technique, saying he's "brave" in his approach and can turn conventional shots into arial ones to pick boundaries.
“It’s the way his hands move through the line of the ball that stood out for me. His head and feet position, too. He is very aggressive and brave in his mind-set. It’s the approach that had his team-mates here go ‘wow’ at some of his shots," Murali said.
"He has quite a few shots actually beyond the clips you might have all seen — the cover drive where he leans well into the shot, the straight drive, the pull of course and the ability to hit the lofted shots. To turn the conventional shots into aerial, like the inside-out aerial cover drive."
The series against Australia will kick off with three ODIs from September 21, followed by two four-day matches from September 30.