Ravi Shastri's Energy Is A Bit Strong, Rahul Dravid Is Very Calm, Composed - Shikhar Dhawan

Senior India opener and captain for the Sri Lanka tour Shikhar Dhawan speaks about the differences and similarities between Rahul Dravid and Ravi Shastri.

While Shastri is in England with the Test side, Dravid is with Shikhar Dhawan, who will captain India for the first time in his career, on the Sri Lanka tour. The southpaw stated that Shastri is big on energy and aggressive, whereas Dravid is more composed and a calmer person; but both are “very positive people”.

Shikhar Dhawan opens up on the time he had previously spent with Dravid in his India A days and at the NCA, which is headed by the former batsman.

“They (Dravid and Shastri) both have their own qualities and they both are very positive people. I have spent time with Ravi Bhai (Ravi Shastri) and their ways to motivate are different. Ravi Bhai’s energy is a bit strong, whereas Rahul Bhai (Rahul Dravid) is very calm, composed, and strong as well, so everyone has their own way and I enjoy playing under both of them,” Shikhar Dhawan said on the eve of the first ODI against Sri Lanka. 

“I have a good relation with Rahul Bhai. When I started playing Ranji Trophy, I played against him, and I have known him since then. When I went to play India A match, I was the Captain, and he was the coach, so there was interaction. When he became the Director of NCA, we used to go there for around 20 days, so we had a lot of interaction,” he added.

The goal is to win the series and the best playing XI will play: Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan is leading a young group to Sri Lanka for 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is. With the T20 World Cup in mind, there is a chance of experimentation. But the opener said there will be no compromise on the strength of the team in order to experiment and give chance to players, and that they will field their best eleven as the main goal is to win the series.

“No, we haven’t yet decided who and how many we will play. The goal is to win series and the best playing XI will play,” he stated.

India’s squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.

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