Rahul Dravid: 5 Indian players who were helped by his advice
Rahul Dravid is currently coaching the Indian U-19 team in the U-19 World Cup. While this is his most visible and prominent foray into mentoring young cricketers, Dravid has helped more than his fair share of cricketers along his career. His presence, advice and encouragement have been invaluable for many players to make a name for themselves. Rahul Dravid is one of the most unselfish cricketers of all time. His demeanour, poise, empathy and grace enabled him to be a unique mentor to players who were playing with him or with whom he came into contact with. Also read: Best innings of Rahul Dravid in ODI cricketDravid was not motivated by individual glory. All he cared about was the team and the country. Even when he was a part of the Indian team, he was focused on making the players around him better and helping the youngsters navigate their way forward.Here is a look at 5 players who earned success thanks to Rahul Dravid.
#1 Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane has many reasons to be thankful to Rahul Dravid. They both played for the Rajasthan Royals, and Rahane had ample opportunities to learn from Dravid.
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He credits Rahul Dravid with helping him focus and get better, saying “Rahulpaaji has helped me realise that I should only look to control things I can control. That I should maintain the work ethic I follow and, most important, never lose self-belief.”
He added “Opening the batting with Rahul bhai gave me a chance to express myself and showcase all that I had learnt over the years,”
When Rahane took 8 catches in a Test against Sri Lanka, he made it a point to thank Rahul Dravid. He said, "We had a very good talk during IPL on what he used to do when he used to stand in the slips.”
Rahul Dravid has complimented Ajinkya Rahane, saying "He is a good No.5. He is a different generation cricketer. He does play a lot more shots than me. He scores at a quicker rate than I did.
Rahane and Dravid have more in common. They both reached the 2,000 run-mark in One-Day International (ODI) format in their 63rd match.