Jhulan Goswami, Indian women’s star pacer has lauded the BCCI’s decision of appointing Rahul Dravid at the helm of affairs at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
She made this observation while talking about the valuable time she spent while undergoing rehabilitation at the Bangalore-based facility, during an interaction on Sports Today.
Jhulan Goswami: Rahul Dravid Is There To Give Ideas As He Will Motivate One Whenever Any Help Is Required
Jhulan Goswami was asked for her views if the presence of Rahul Dravid made a difference to the NCA. She responded by saying that the former Indian captain is always around to help anybody whenever anything is required.
“Honestly speaking, as a cricketer, to have Rahul Dravid at the NCA, morning, evening, whenever you want any kind of small help, you just go to Rahul Dravid and just ask him.”
She elaborated that apart from imparting technical knowledge by valuable advice, Rahul Dravid also plays the role of an excellent motivator, which is the most important requirement of a player recovering from an injury.
“He is there before you arrive on the ground. He gives you ideas about how to handle situations. If you ask some technical issues as a batter, he is there. If you are not in a good frame of mind, because when you are doing rehab you have a lot of negative thoughts in your mind as you don’t know how you will come back, when you have Rahul Dravid over there, you can just talk to him, and he will give you lots of ideas, and he will motivate you. It is important as a professional athlete to have somebody who can motivate you, push you,” added Jhulan Goswami.
“Rahul Dravid does not say no to even one person,” said Jhulan Goswami.
Jhulan Goswami has played 10 Tests, 182 ODIs and 68 T20Is as a right-arm medium pacer. She played the last Test in 2015, last T20I in 2018 and last ODI in 2019 after debuting in 2002.
Jhulan Goswami Praised Rahul Dravid For His Efforts At NCA
Jhulan Goswami warmly lauded the BCCI for the excellent facilities provided at the NCA besides giving examples of the motivational talk she received from Rahul Dravid during her stint at the academy.
“And that infrastructure BCCI has created at the NCA is one of the best. We have quality physios like Ashish Kaushik and his team. And we are having coffee with Rahul Dravid in the morning. And he will suddenly ask if I am okay and tell me not to worry about my injury and just do my things and that I will be fine. He said – ‘I know still you are the best bowler.'”
Jhulan Goswami observed that former batting legend Rahul Dravid is the perfect person to head the NCA, highlighting the progress made by the India under-19, India A and women’s teams in his presence.
She concluded by saying that she had a wonderful experience during her time at the Bengaluru-based academy.
“As a cricketer, I think the best thing BCCI did is to put Rahul Dravid as the NCA head. And NCA is performing incredibly. If you see under-19, India A, women’s team, all women’s program, he is putting all efforts to develop Indian cricket. As a cricketer, I don’t know what they are thinking outside, but they are not in the system. But I am there.
“I know cricketers are talking to him, discussing cricket and he has never said ‘no’, not even to one person. I feel (that) BCCI has put the right person at the right place. That is my observation because I enjoyed there the most,” concluded Jhulan Goswami.
The NCA though is not among right news, especially regarding the injury management of players like pacers Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and keeper Wriddhiman Saha. However, a lot of players who have spent time at NCA have praised the facility and help they received from former batting stalwart Rahul Dravid during their stay there.