Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq praised ex-India skipper Rahul Dravid, who is helping groom the youngsters at the junior level. Inzamam said the National Cricket Academy (NCA) chief, Dravid, has a role to play in India's Test series win on Australia soil.
India didn't have a full strength side in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2021, but the youngsters managed to pull off a series win by 2-1 despite lack of experience in Test cricket.
"Winning a series in Australia is the toughest of them all. I have never seen in my life a team as young as this Indian team to beat Australia on their soil. I was wondering what led to this and I realized that Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar had played Under 19 World Cup in 2016.
"Then Shubman Gill and [Prithvi] Shaw played the 2018 Under-19 World Cup. The likes of Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Hanuma Vihari, and Mayank Agarwal have lately played a lot of cricket for India A," Inzamam said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
Dravid has coached India A and Under-19 sides from 2016 to 2019, before taking over NCA. Inzamam lauded the ex-India cricketer for making the youngsters mentally strong to perform at the international level against ruthless sides like Australia.
"This journey from Under 19 to India A and from India A to the national team, I realised that they guys improved their base through none other than Rahul Dravid. Dravid's strength… the reason why he was called The Wall is because he had a strong defense. He could play in every condition, was mentally so strong that he could adjust himself in any position. Dravid worked with these players to make them mentally tough."
Wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant was the top run-getter and Mohammed Siraj bagged the most wickets for India in the four-match series.
"After losing the first Test and Virat going back, to win the Melbourne Test and taking it to the decider without four of your main players who were injured, I think it was all Dravid's doing. More than technique, he tried to make them The Wall as well, who could play in every condition. Dravid trained them, which these players have benefitted from," Inzamam added.
