Former Australian pacer Brett Lee once famously said:”If you can’t get along with Dravid, then you’re struggling in life.” One of the finest gentlemen the game has ever witnessed, it is almost impossible to believe that someone has complains with Rahul Dravid.
A very interesting story was brought out by Vikram Sathaye on his chat show ‘What the Duck’. Sathaye asked Dravid about how once guests complained saying that they heard weird noises coming from his hotel room.
But the reason will make you respect the legendary batsman even more. Dravid’s commitment and dedication for the game was second to none and this story will just prove it right.
“Are you aware of the fact that hotel guests used to complain, people who were especially living next to your room that weird noises would come out of Rahul Dravid’s room because there was actually a net practice happening there. The night before,” Sathaye said.
“No, I mean, I wasn’t. I mean you carry a bat with me, I like to carry the bat in my room and just sometimes, pick up the bat and get a feel of what it felt like in my hand and so when you are tapping the ground and sometimes you know, the people below you the floor, sometimes you get the odd calls and saying ‘can you stop that’,” a modest Dravid replied.
“I mean, I know I gave impression of being and I was being intense,” Dravid added.
Sathaye revealed another interesting story about the complaints:“Mane kaka (Ramesh Mane, Team India’s masseur for a long time) tells a story that somebody complained that lot of noise is coming out of Rahul Dravid’s room. So, they went back and said, sorry on your behalf and when they found out that it was Rahul Dravid’s room, they came and apologised because they didn’t want to go down in history as culprits who disturbed Rahul Dravid and caused India’s loss.”
The host came up with another interesting story related to Dravid’s night practice session by saying: “Vijeta (Rahul Dravid’s wife) said that early in your marriage she thought you were sleep walking.”
Dravid started laughing after hearing this and replied, “No, I mean it happens so sometimes you can’t get sleep. So, you know swinging the bat or you just you know sort of practicing a drill something and I think that’s a lot of batsmen will do that. They’ll sort of and you are taught that as a youngster. You used to drill your technique in front of a mirror, so you know practicing, sort of shadow practicing and it just becomes the habit and it’s almost a comfort feeling I think. It’s just a little bit of a comfort feeling when you feel nervous and pick up your bat and shadow practice and imagine you self-smashing the bowlers all over the ground.”
Just like the previous episodes, this episode had its fair share of laughs and some interesting stories.