Former India coach Rahul Dravid has reflected on his lovely working rapport with ODI skipper Rohit Sharma, lavishing huge praise on the veteran to connect deeply with players during his stint as captain across formats. Many players, from Sanju Samson to KL Rahul, vouched that Rohit cares a lot about the players and maintains transparency. Dravid said the Mumbai batter always maintained a light atmosphere in the dressing room, always bringing clarity about what he wants for the side.
The former India captain spoke to Ravi Ashwin on his YouTube show, explaining how his thought process perfectly aligned with Rohit's calm & composed leadership style. The former coach always believed in the philosophy of a leader who ran the team, and the right-hand batter's clear clarity of thought gave him immense confidence to let Rohit the skipper take charge.
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Notably, Dravid took over as the coach in 2022 to 2024, he and Rohit Sharma formed a formidable partnership, as India reached the ODI World Cup 2023 final, and the next year went onto win the T20 World Cup 2024, ending a decade wait for the team to win the ICC trophy.
"I always felt he deeply cared about the team. Right from the first day, he was very clear about how he wanted to run the team and what was important to him," Dravid said.
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"I think it’s really important in a relationship between a captain and coach. I always believed it should be the captain’s team. I have been a player and a captain as well. A captain has to lead the team in terms of the direction he wants to go. You have to help him with that. And of course, you need to help a captain in terms of helping him get clarity and understanding what’s required.
"With Rohit, I thought he was very clear in what he wanted from the team, how he wanted the environment to be, how he wanted the atmosphere to be. I think his experience helped him set these things. For me, it was just working with him, challenging him at times on certain things, but also working with him to ensure that he was able to be comfortable in that space. Once he was comfortable in that space, I knew he was going to perform and get everyone else to perform.
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"Also, one of the things with him is he was very calm, he connected really with the team, and didn’t go up and down too much. At least, he never gave me that impression. He maintained that balance and calmness," he added.
Treasured my working relationship with Rohit Sharma - Rahul Dravid
Dravid also recalled his relationship with Rohit over the two years, saying he treasured every conversation he had with the batter, both on and off the field.
"More than anything, I really enjoyed getting to know him as a person, chatting with him. We were comfortable being able to sit and have conversations with each other without having to talk only about cricket. It was easy to sit and meet with him and have dinner. It wasn’t forced. That was nice," Dravid said.
"Having seen him as a young kid, a U19 kid, giving him his first cap, and then seeing him grow as a leader was really nice. His whole strength was his ability to emotionally connect with players. You experienced that. I think you (Ashwin) enjoyed being able to talk to him and challenge him and know he wouldn’t get upset," he added.
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In the Dravid-Rohit two-year tenure, India mostly enjoyed a fruitful period across formats and adopted an ultra-positive approach, especially in the white-ball formats. This strategy proved to be decisive in India, having a near-flawless campaign in the ODI World Cup 2023, only to falter in the final against Australia. However, the duo finally achieved success when they conquered the final hurdle seven months later in the T20 World Cup 2024. That was also the final match for Dravid as the coach of the team.
