"You can achieve a lot by being low profile as well" - When Gautam Gambhir lavished praise on a former India captain
Current India Men's team coach Gautam Gambhir had once lauded former India captain and ex-head coach Rahul Dravid. 'The Wall' is regarded as one of the greatest cricketers to have played the game. He amassed 13,288 runs in 164 Test matches and 10,889 runs in 344 ODIs and was also the head coach of the Indian team that won the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Despite his humungous achievements, Dravid has maintained a low profile, as he's known as one of the most humble and down-to-earth superstars. In 2021, his former teammate and successor as India's head coach, Gautam Gambhir, hailed the former India captain for remaining grounded despite his fabulous achievements as a cricketer.
On Star Sports' show Cricket Connected, Gambhir had opened up on the attributes of Dravid that younger players could imbibe.
"Patience for sure because I was a very impatient guy, that is one think I learnt. But more than that, you learn from the humility he had. The sort of record he had and there have been very few players who have played for India and have scored more than 10000 runs in both formats. But you never felt that because he has remained so low-profile," the 43-year-old had said in praise of Dravid.
He also hailed the former India captain for being a complete team man, who was willing to take up any challenge for the team in any format. Gambhir said:
"He was a complete team man. You asked him to open in Test cricket, he did that. You asked him to keep in ODI cricket, he did that. He played in the middle-order, he played at No.3.
"So, Rahul Dravid has done the most difficult tasks. So it is necessary to learn that you do not need to be in-your-face all the time, you can achieve a lot by being low-profile as well," the former India batter had opined.
Despite being a part-time stumper during his younger days, Dravid agreed to keep wickets for India in ODIs so that the team could play either an extra batter or a bowler. He was India's wicketkeeper in the 2003 ODI World Cup as well, in which, India had reached the final, losing to Australia.
Rahul Dravid's underrated record as India captain
While MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli are referred to as great India leaders, Dravid's record as India captain is often underestimated. He led India in 79 ODIs, winning 42, for a win percentage of 53.16.
Dravid also led India in 25 Tests, winning eight and losing six, while 11 matches ended in draws. He was the captain of the Indian team that last won a three-Test series 1-0 in England in 2007.