In cricket, more often than not, the coach and captain are a pair. A team’s success isn’t just because of one of them, but it’s a partnership. Gary Kirsten-MS Dhoni, John Wright-Sourav Ganguly, Ravi Shastri-Virat Kohli, Andy Flower-Andrew Strauss, and John Buchanan-Ricky Ponting are all fine examples.
These are some of the most famous captains of the 21st century, and all of them had a great coach always by their side. Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid are also one such duo. They didn’t stick around for too long, but ended their partnership on the highest of notes by winning the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Dravid’s key to success
Dravid worked with Rohit from February 2022 to June 2024. India continued to be a force across all formats in that period and perhaps had one of the best ODI teams of all time. Dravid has revealed that the key behind their success was making Rohit comfortable so that he performs to his best, and that had a positive effect on the entire team.
“He (Rohit) deeply cared about the team. Right from the first day, he was really clear about how he wanted to run the team and what was important to him. I always like to believe that it should be the captain’s team. A captain has to lead the team in the direction he wants to, and you have to support him in that.
Rohit was very clear in what he wanted. How he wanted the (team) environment to be. He had so much experience over the years. For me, it was really working with him and challenging him at times, but also ensuring he was comfortable in that space. Once I knew he was comfortable, he was going to perform and get everyone else to perform as well,” Dravid said on Kutti Stories with Ash.
India needed Rohit Sharma as India’s captain
Dravid thinks that Rohit came at the right time for India. His personality was different from that of his predecessor, Virat Kohli, and that’s exactly what was needed at the time. Kohli had given the life Team India needed, and Rohit sustained that in his own way.
“He’s very calm. Connects with the team very well, doesn’t go up and down. There are times in Indian cricket that need a cheer-up, and there were times when Virat did that really well with India. There are times when you need a little calmness. His strength was his ability to emotionally connect with his players. You enjoyed being able to talk to him, challenge him, and know that he wouldn’t get upset,” Dravid added.
Special relationship
The captain and coach enjoyed a great relationship. Cricket was naturally a big part of it, but that wasn’t all. Dravid has seen Rohit from boyhood, and then to see him become India’s captain was great for Dravid. It was Rohit who had stopped him from leaving after the ODI World Cup, and luckily that worked out well.
“We were comfortable enough to have a conversation without only having to talk about cricket. It felt easy spending time with him in the evening, having a meal. Having seen him as a young kid, giving him his first India cap as a cricketer, to see how he grew up as a cricketer, person, and leader was nice,” the current Rajasthan Royals head coach concluded. 5
Editor's Pick
Cricket
Gautam Gambhir avoids back-to-back series defeats, but selection & tactics concerns remain
Top Stories
