Rahul Dravid gives mantra on failure to youngsters

Dravid considers himself more of failure than succesful.

Rahul Dravid | GETTY

Former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid talked with the youngsters about failures. He tried to motivate them considering himself more failed than successful.

While speaking at the Go Sports Athletes' Conclave in Bengaluru, Dravid said, "Back in my time, a half-century was considered a good score. Across formats, I batted 604 times for India. I didn't cross 50 runs 410 times out of those innings. I failed a lot more times than I succeeded. I'm more a failure than a success, So, I'm quite qualified to talk about failure."

Rahul took the example of Sachin Tendulkar and called him best batsman of his generation.

"Let's look at the best batsman of my generation: Sachin Tendulkar. He scored a hundred 100s. But he didn't cross the 50-run milestone in 517 out of the 781 times he batted. So he too was more of a failure than a success, if that's even possible."

"One of the things that I picked up from the great players who I have played with, and the athletes I know, is their attitude towards failure. They know how to fail well," he added.

The 44-year-old further spoke about the historic match of India and Australia at Eden Gardens in 2001. He revealed how he tackled Australian captain Steve Waugh when he was greeted with a sledge. 

"In the first three days of the Test match, we (India) were sort of completely beaten. Personally as well, my form was not good. I hadn't scored runs in Bombay. I hadn't hit runs in the first innings. In fact, I was demoted to number six in the batting order. In the second innings, when I walked in, Steve Waugh said 'Rahul, number six in this innings, what is it in the next innings? Number 12?" Dravid said.

Dravid was a hero of the match along with VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh. 

"It was quite funny because I had reached the depths, I felt so low. I was not in a position to think about the past or about the future. And in cricket, it is just about focusing on one ball at a time. I thought 'let me see how many one balls I can play at a time.' I was thinking one more, one more'," said Dravid.

 
 

By Sihyeu Singh - 22 Dec, 2017

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