Former Indian head coach and batting legend Rahul Dravid opened up on a potential Bollywood gig in future. Dravid, considered one of the finest batters to have not lifted a Cricket World Cup, was finally able to fulfil this dream of his as a coach with India defeating South Africa in a thrilling final by seven runs to capture the ICC T20 World Cup, ending their 11-year ICC title drought. With this, Dravid ended his stint with the Indian team as a head coach on a high.
The 51-year-old has won the hearts of cricketing fans and experts throughout his cricketing and coaching career, both for his steely defence and composure and ability to create a positive, supportive atmosphere for players in the dressing room as a coach of the Indian team.
During a Q&A session during the CEAT Cricket Awards, Dravid responded hilariously when asked about the actor he would pick to play himself in a biopic, saying, “If the money is good enough, I will play it myself.”
Speaking on what changed between India’s 10-match win streak which ended with a heartbreaking loss to Australia in the 50-over World Cup last year and this year’s undefeated run to the ICC T20 World Cup title, Dravid said that the team could not have done anything different in terms of preparation, plans and execution and they did not want to change anything.
“Honestly, I did not want to do anything different. I think we ran a fantastic campaign in the one-day World Cup, Rohit and the team, everyone involved in that one-day World Cup, we ran a superb campaign. There’s nothing we could have done more in terms of our preparation, the planning, the execution of what we needed to do for 10 games in a row to dominate, to win the game we did, play the game we did,” said Dravid.
“I did not want to change anything. If you had asked me and we had a discussion with our support staff, we would get together with the coaches and say, what do you think we should do differently?” The common consensus (among the team) was we needed to do exactly what we did. We need to create the same energy, create the same vibe, the same team atmosphere that we had and then just hope that on the day, we will have a little bit of luck,” he added.
Dravid said that he was never a part of a home World Cup as a player and to travel all over the country and experience the passion of fans was a phenomenal experience to him.
“To travel all over this country and to be able to experience that joy and passion of the fans. I have never been a part of a World Cup as a player in India, but just the experience as a coach to go from city to city and just walk and see what this game meant to the people of this country was phenomenal. It was incredible,” Dravid said.
“I thought we ran a phenomenal campaign. We came unstuck in the final and Australia played better cricket than us on the day. They were a better team and congratulations (to them). That can happen in sport and that’s what sport is about,” he added.
Notably, during the title clash in November last year, Australia restricted India to just 240 runs, despite a fine start by skipper Rohit Sharma (47) and half-centuries by KL Rahul (66) and Virat Kohli (54). Mitchell Starc (3/55) and skipper Pat Cummins (2/34) unleashed heavy damage on Indian batters. Though Australia was off to a shaky start too with the scoreline reading 47/3 at one point, Travis Head (137*) and Marnus (58*) took the Aussies to their sixth 50-over crown with six wickets in hand.
The 26th edition of the awards honoured a distinguished group of cricketers and sports leaders who showcased exceptional talent and leadership throughout the year.
Phil Salt was celebrated as the Men’s T20I Batter of the Year, while Tim Southee earned the title of Men’s T20I Bowler of the Year. In recognition of his tactical brilliance, Shreyas Iyer received the Award for Outstanding Leadership for winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Sai Kishore was recognized as the Domestic Cricketer of the Year for his consistent performances on the domestic circuit.
Virat Kohli took home the Men’s ODI Batter of the Year award, and Mohammad Shami was named the Men’s ODI Bowler of the Year.
The Award for Most Matches as a Captain in Women’s T20I History was awarded to Harmanpreet Kaur, while Yashashvi Jaiswal and Ravichandran Ashwin were honoured as the Men’s Test Batter of the Year and Men’s Test Bowler of the Year, respectively. On the women’s side, Deepti Sharma was named the Women’s Indian Bowler of the Year, and Smriti Mandhana earned the title of Women’s Indian Batter of the Year.
The Award for the Fastest Double Century in Women’s Test went to Shafali Verma, while Jay Shah was recognized with the Award for Excellence in Sports Administration for their significant contributions to the sport. For his glorious contribution to the world of cricket, Rahul Dravid was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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