'I Was Out Of The Team For A Year': Rahul Dravid Opens Up On His Turning Point Of ODI Career

Indian head coach Rahul Dravid opened up on the turning point of his international career in ODI cricket that pushed him to brush up his skills.

Dravid existed in the times of Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, who were in the spotlight of the cricket world for their batting prowess. It is often said that Dravid’s contributions and achievements in Indian cricket were always overshadowed by the supremacy of Tendulkar.

Yet Dravid had his own share of records and match-winning moments for India, the Karnataka batter accumulated 24,208 runs across all formats on an international stage.

I was out of the one-day team for a year: Rahul Dravid

Dravid, who led the Indian team for two years, mentioned that getting dropped from the ODI team in 1998 helped him to work on himself and bounced back against the odds.

“There were many high and low points in the journey, but what mattered to me most was that, at the end of it, I could walk out of the stadium with my head held high and without any regrets. Everyone needs to create a process and plan that keeps him or her on the path to excellence,” Dravid told New Indian Express.

“Yes, getting dropped from the one-day team in 1998 forced me to introspect, recalibrate and relearn. I was out of the one-day team for a year, during which I spent a massive amount of time developing new skills and adapting my game for the one-day arena.

“It took a lot, beginning with a deeper awareness of the finer aspects of what I lacked and, subsequently, the hard work to improve. I was able to play ten years of one-day cricket after that and score over 10,000 runs in over 300 one-day matches,” he added.

Rahul Dravid post international retirement

After playing 164 Tests, 344 One-Day Internationals and a solitary T20I match for India, Dravid announced his international retirement in 2012 after India’s tour of Australia 2011-12.

Dravid has played a massive role in strengthening the roots of Indian cricket at the U19 level. Under him as the head coach, the Prithvi Shaw-led side won the 2018 U19 World Cup in New Zealand.

Dravid is also credited for grooming young talent that has helped the Indian team to have one of the strongest bench strengths in the world. He took over the senior team’s head coach role from Ravi Shastri after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in November last year.

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