Former India player Mohammad Kaif believes that India coach Rahul Dravid is the right man at the helm who can handle the ship. Kaif also defended Sourav Ganguly in the whole captaincy saga which shook Indian cricket in the past month.
In a fiery press conference ahead of the team’s departure for South Africa, Virat Kohli spoke at length about his sacking as ODI captain. However, the statement that sparked controversy, was when the Indian Test captain contradicted the BCCI President’s statement.
Ganguly said in an interview that he personally requested Kohli to reconsider his resignation from the T20I captaincy. But Kohli denied if any such conversation happened between him and any BCCI official.
“Dravid has seen a lot of ups and downs in his times”
However, Ganguly’s teammate Mohammad Kaif defended his captain. Kaif said that Ganguly got dragged into the matter which was created by Kohli’s press conference.
“Lately, Indian cricket has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Indian captain Virat Kohli’s press conference before leaving for South Africa created a storm and Sourav Ganguly too got dragged into it,” Kaif wrote in his column for India.com
“Thankfully for Indian cricket, they had a trouble-shooter in place. We know him by the name of Rahul Dravid, the new Head Coach of the Indian cricket team. Having played with and under Rahul bhai, I can safely tell you that if there was ever a man to handle the ship of the Indian team, it is him,” he added.
Kaif, who played 7 Tests and 38 ODIs under Rahul Dravid, is quite confident that the coach will ensure to get the focus back on cricket. He pointed out that he had gone through many ups and downs in his career as a player and captain.
“I say this with quiet confidence as Dravid himself has seen a lot of ups and downs in his times as a former India cricketer and captain. He was leading India when Greg Chappell was around as a coach.
“He was captain of Rajasthan Royals when the spot-fixing and match-fixing controversy happened in 2013, As captain these phases tested him but he came out on top. His communication skills, patience, ability to handle egos, and above all his selflessness worked in his favour,” Kaif concluded.
The first test between India and South Africa will begin on December 26 at Centurion as India will chase their first test series win in South Africa.