Bengaluru: Rahul Dravid spoke about India’s white-ball growth and leadership development and shared insights into the influence of Rohit Sharma and India’s preparation for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at a special event celebrating author R. Kaushik’s ‘The Rise of the Hitman’. The event at KSCA was hosted by Jain Sports.
The legendary batsman opined that Indian would be favorites for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. “India play T20 cricket at a different level to most teams. They have had an 80% success rate in recent years, which is amazing in a format that has so many ups and downs. They start clearly as favorites and will make it to the semi-finals, but as I have learned to my bitter disappointment, it is about the better team on the day. Anyone can play a good shot and upset you.” Dravid said.
Dravid praised Rohit Sharma for taking India to a new avatar in the limited-overs format. “We felt that we were a bit behind in white-ball cricket and needed to push the boundaries a bit more. Run rates increased, risk appetite increased and we had to adapt to that reality,” Dravid noted.
He added: “The genius was that Rohit took the lead straight away. He took responsibility for setting the pace himself rather than asking others to do it. When your leader stands up and says, ‘I will do this even if it comes at the expense of my average or personal numbers’, it becomes much easier to pass that message on to the team.”
Talking about Rohit’s transition into leadership of the Indian team, Dravid said, “I think Rohit has handled the transition into leadership really well. The team never felt like he had changed and that is a rare and important quality in a leader.”
Dravid’s former teammate and KSCA president Venkatesh Prasad joined virtually to reflect on his association with Rohit at different stages of his career. He praised Rohit Sharma’s achievements and longevity at the highest level.
“Winning the Padma Shri is a great achievement and Rohit Sharma absolutely deserves it. After playing in all formats for so many years and creating an extraordinary body of work, he is the only Indian player to win two T20 World Cups,” Prasad said.
Reflecting on his time coaching Sharma in the Under-19 team, Prasad added: “I have seen Rohit since he was 16 or 17 years old when he played for the India Under-19 team. Even then you could see the sheer talent and potential. What impressed me right from the start was how much time he had to play his shots. You can easily compare Rohit Sharma with any of the greats India has produced. That is the quality of batting we have.” talk about it.”
