Former Indian captain and coach Rahul Dravid recently appeared on a podcast where he spoke about a lot of things about a lot of cricketers. The conversation, as expected, was around the technical nuances of batting.
Dravid was among the few batters who scored over 10000 runs in Test and ODI cricket. Among Indian cricketers, Rahul was just the second Indian batter after Sachin Tendulkar to have scored over 10000 runs in both the formats.
Dravid for almost 15 years, was India’s number three in Test and ODI cricket. It was Cheteshwar Pujara who replaced him at number three in Test cricket and Virat Kohli in the ODI format. Both went onto become match-winners for India in their own rights.
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Virat Kohli Is Shortish - Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid, after playing for India, went onto become India’s head coach. He joined the team in November 2021 and went onto stay in his position till the T20 World Cup 2024. After initially serving a two-year term, his contract was extended to see the team through the 2023 ODI World Cup and then again until the 2024 T20 World Cup. In the recent podcast, he spoke about the batters he followed growing up and the batters he enjoyed watching bat during his playing days.
“Gavaskar was a beautifully balanced player. I always remember, he always seemed to. There was a stillness when he stood, which is what I admired. I was always slightly taller, so I didn;t copy anything. I just stood in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. Tendulkar again was very balanced. Shorter people have the advantage of looking more balanced because the centre of gravity is lower. That’s what they say. A lot of great batters over the years have been shorter people. Look at Gavaskar, or Tendulkar or a [Brian] Lara or a [Ricky] Ponting… going back to [Donald] Bradman” said Dravid.
In the same podcast, he admitted saying that Virat Kohli might hate him for calling him a shortish batter.
“Kohli is short-ish. Virat Kohli might not like me calling him shortish, though," Dravid said on the Haal Chaal Aur Sawaal Podcast with Ashish Kaushik.
Game Is Changing And Becoming A Lot About Power-Hitting - Dravid
The former Indian coach and captain went onto add that modern cricket is being dictated by aggressive batters with the advent of T20 cricket and power-hitting becoming a crucial part of the game.
"But today, as the game is changing and becoming a lot about power and hitting sixes. The reach of the taller guys is becoming an advantage. Physics will tell you. Kevin Pietersen, Kieron Pollard. Look at the guys who are batting these days, in T20s especially," Dravid concluded saying.
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