Rahul Dravid talks about Virat Kohli’s love for Test cricket

Dravid believes Test batsmanship has become exciting to watch now as batters play more aggressive shots.

India skipper Virat Kohli’s love for Test cricket is known to everyone in the cricketing fraternity. And batting legend Rahul Dravid on Monday (June 8) reiterated the same, saying Kohli understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come through performances in the longest format.

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Fondly known as ''The Wall'' for his watertight technique, Dravid also said that Test batsmanship has become exciting to watch now as batters play more aggressive shots.

"I actually believe Test batsmanship has become more exciting than before, the aggressive element of Test batsmanship is going forward, players are playing shots and it is good to see, a good thing for India is Virat Kohli really values Test cricket, he understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come from his success in Test cricket," Dravid told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

Cricket might have become fast-paced in the last 10 years with too much T20s going around, but Dravid believes there is still room for defensive batting in the game.

"I don't think it is becoming irrelevant, maybe the value of defensive batting is not the same as it was a generation ago, it can never become irrelevant, I think you still need to defend your wicket if you want to score suns, I feel now you can survive without a good defensive technique in cricket," he remarked.

"Today, you do not need to have a good Test career to have a successful career, look at the best players in the world today, a lot of them have a good defensive technique and they can play out difficult periods of the game," the former Indian captain further added.

Dravid, who represented India in 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and 1 T20I, also stated that all young players want to represent their country in three formats during their initial days but they become realistic with time.

"I would say in my interaction with the younger players, everyone's hero is someone who has succeeded in all formats of the game. I think all players start off wanting to play all formats, but then guys get a little realistic about their careers, superstars of the game will still want to play to all formats of the game," he said.