Love For The Game Kept Me Going: Rahul Dravid

Former Team India captain and the current head of the National Cricket Academy, Rahul Dravid had a stellar international career across all formats of the game, but trust the ‘Wall’ of Indian cricket to be as humble as ever.

Rahul Dravid recently participated in the third talk of the TRUTHtalk series hosted by Desh Apnayen Sahaypog Foundation and Satya Vigyan Foundation, where he said that he had his fair share of ups and downs during his 16-year-old international career but it’s his love for the game that kept him going.

“I have had my share of ups and downs but I think what’s kept me going is just the love for the game and just trying to get the best of myself,” Rahul Dravid said.

During the discussion, Rahul Dravid also talked about his approach to coaching. He said that he believes in coaching in not ‘just a cricketer but coaching a person’ and that the experiences- be it good or bad- while playing the sport at the highest level has made him the cricketer that he is today.

”In sports, you are put in the spotlight a lot and your failure is very public, as your success is as well and you need to deal with that. It is not easy at times, it sometimes makes you do things that you necessarily not very proud of and sometimes you learn from those things. It has become so much more competitive today that it has actually become harder for sportsman to have a normal life,” he added.

Dravid was the head coach of the Indian team that won the U-19 World Cup in 2018 but he feels that everyone made an equal contribution to it and it was ‘unfair’ that he was paid a ‘little-bit extra’.

”We as support staff did our bit to create the environment and I felt that everyone had played their part and so I just felt a little unfair that I was being paid a little bit extra.” Dravid said.

When asked about his guiding principles in his personal and professional life, Dravid said-

“Being honest to who I am and try being myself and recognise that you know I am only the custodian of the game for a short period of time and I need to try to leave the game at a better place when I am going to leave,” he signed off.

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