Rahul Dravid Is Probably India’s Most Underrated Leader – Gautam Gambhir

Jun 22, 2020 at 6:00 PM

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Rahul Dravid Is Probably India’s Most Underrated Leader – Gautam Gambhir

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir reckons that ex-captain Rahul Dravid often doesn’t get the respect he deserves. Dravid is mainly remember for being the Indian captain when the team was kicked out without making into the Super Eights of the 2007 World Cup. However, Rahul Dravid had a fabulous record as the captain of the side.

Under the leadership of Rahul Dravid, India defeated England in English conditions by 1-0 on 2007 tour. India also savoured Test series win in the West Indies under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid. Furthermore, India’s first maiden on the South African soil came when Dravid was the captain. Moreover, India had achieved the record of 15 successful run chases under the captaincy of Dravid.

Rahul Dravid, CoA
Rahul Dravid (Image Credit: Google)

Unfortunately, Rahul Dravid is mainly remembered for 2007 World Cup debacle

Meanwhile, Gambhir feels that a lot of credit is given to the likes of Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and now Virat Kohli but Dravid is not much talked about.

“I made my one-day debut under Sourav Ganguly and my Test debut under Rahul Dravid,” Gambhir said on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected. “It is so unfortunate that we do not give Dravid enough credit for his captaincy. We only talk about Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, now we talk about Virat Kohli, but Dravid has been a fabulous captain for India as well. Even his records, he’s probably the most under-rated cricketer and probably the most under-rated leader as well. We won in England, West Indies, we won some 14 or 15 games on the trot.”

“If you look at Dravid as a cricketer, I think if you asked him to open the batting in Test cricket, he did, he batted at No. 3, he kept wickets for India, he batted as a finisher, he did everything what Indian cricket asked him or what a captain asked him to do and that is the kind of role models you want,” he said.

In fact, Gautam Gambhir feels Dravid had a bigger impact on Indian Cricket than Sourav Ganguly. Both Dravid and Ganguly made their Test debuts together against England on June 20, 1996. Moreover, the former Delhi player feels Dravid’s contribution can be likened to legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar.

Cricketers, 5 Cricketers Who Played With Most Number Of Different Players In International Cricket
Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Credits: AFP

 “For me, I think he has had a bigger impact. Ganguly has always had a bigger impact in white-ball cricket because of his flamboyance, but Dravid overall, in Indian cricket, had a much bigger impact that probably anyone,” he said.

“You can actually match his impact to someone like Sachin Tendulkar as well because he played under the shadows of Tendulkar all his life, but yes, impact wise, probably the same,” he added.

Rahul Dravid had an illustrious career and Gambhir also gave credit to the former skipper for the getting the best out of the young players when he was the coach of the Under-19 and India A.

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