Indian coach Rahul Dravid spoke about the expectations of the fans when Indian stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli bat for India. There was a lot of criticism regarding Virat Kohli’s century drought in red-ball cricket which he ended with an astonishing century against Australia in the final test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Rahul Dravid who has been a pillar batting for India over the years along with Sachin Tendulkar spoke about the expectations of people who wants their idols to score in every match they play and added these things happen because the batters set a high standard which is quite impossible to achieve every time with the same level of consistency.
“In India when you become a player as big as Virat Kohli, people have such high expectations. When I played and used to bat with Sachin Tendulkar, I saw the same. Everyone wants him to score a century, and score runs. And this happens because he has set a standard. He has scored centuries so regularly that people don’t realize how tough it is to score a hundred. And then obviously, the pressure builds,” Rahul Dravid said
Sachin Tendulkar has scored 100 centuries for India across formats and Virat Kohli is quietly chasing him down with 75 centuries across all three formats many experts him to breach the 100 centuries mark set by the master blaster. Rahul Dravid further added a player like Virat Kohli would always involve in the game and wants to contribute to the team’s success.
“A player of Kohli’s caliber wants to contribute, stay involved. He looks at it in a way ‘How can I contribute? What can I do to win the match for India?’ And somewhere he must have felt that I am not able to give that world-class performance in Test matches which the team has become habitual of.”
Earlier, Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli revealed that he always takes a lot of pride in performing for the team and wants to score crucial runs for the team in difficult conditions.
This Is A Special Trait Of A Big Player – Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid lauded Virat Kohli for his patience in his innings to reach his century after almost a gap of three years and five months. Virat Kohli had been very positive in picking up singles and doubles as Kohli scored only 15 boundaries in his innings.
“He scored just five fours in his first 100 runs. He could have gotten frustrated – felt I will smash, and dominate – but he knew what the team needed in that situation. This is a special trait of a big player. Doesn’t matter how great a player you are, you need to have humility, the will to.”
Virat Kohli now has 28 tons in the longer format of the game, with a total of 75 centuries in international cricket. Kohli continued his good form since his comeback scoring an international century in Asia Cup 2022, which was his maiden T20I ton as well.