Former India head coach Rahul Dravid spoke about working with former T20I and Test Captain Rohit Sharma during their stint together that ran for nearly three years.
It was Dravid and Rohit’s duo that brought an end to India’s 17-year thirst for the
ICC T20 World Cup trophy in 2024. In a historic final in Barbados, India remained
unbeaten to lift the coveted T20 World Cup trophy by trouncing South Africa in a nailbiting contest in the final.
Emotions overwhelmed the Indian camp, including Dravid, who is known for his calm
and unfazed demeanour since his playing days. Rohit hid his face on the ground,
hiding his tears, while Dravid lifted the title in the air with a jubilant roar. The
tormenting pain of the 2023 ODI World Cup final against Australia faded away as the
entire nation experienced euphoria.
Dravid took a trip down memory lane and reminisced about the days when he used to
work in tandem with Rohit. The former India head coach felt Rohit, who deeply cared
about the team, was clear about the way he wanted to operate the team from the
very first day.
“I think it was really good. Firstly, he deeply cared about the team. Know, right from
the first day, I think he was very clear about how he wanted to run the team and what
was important to him. And that’s really important in any relationship with a captain
and a coach, and especially the way I coach,” Dravid said while speaking to former
India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Kutti Stories.
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Dravid, who earned the sobriquet of ‘The Wall’, felt Rohit’s past captaincy exploits
played a part in his objective of shaping the team and the environment the way he
wanted it to be.
“I always like to believe that it should be the captain’s team. I’ve been a player and
I’ve been a captain as well. But a captain has to lead it in terms of the direction he
wants to go in, and you have to support him and help him in that. Of course, you
need to sometimes help a captain in terms of getting that clarity and understanding
what is required,” Dravid said.
“But with Rohit, I thought he was very clear about what he wanted from the team,
how he wanted the environment to be, how he wanted the atmosphere to be, how he
wanted things to run. I think he has had so much experience over the years, it really
helped. He was very clear on those things,” he concluded.