Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Rahul Dravid, former Indian captain and head coach of World Cup winning Indian U-19 team, in a BJP rally in Dravid's hometown Bengaluru on Sunday.
While appreciating Dravid's honesty and selflessness, Modi said, "Our Under-19 cricket team won the World Cup yesterday. Their head coach Rahul Dravid was a significant factor behind this victory. He teaches us to work honestly and live for others,"
Modi had earlier congratulated the junior Indian team via Twitter, after they won the U-19 World Cup final by 8 wickets against Australia on Saturday.
Absolutely thrilled by the stupendous achievement of our young cricketers. Congratulations to them on winning the Under-19 World Cup. This triumph makes every Indian extremely proud.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 3, 2018
India remained unbeaten in the tournament and was never pushed in any of the matches. Anukul Roy was the joint leading wicket-taker and Shubman Gill was named 'Player of the Tournament'. As many as 5 Indians were named in ICC's Team of the Tournament, including skipper Prithvi Shaw.
Rahul Dravid's greatness as a cricketer and team-man has never been in question, and under his captaincy India achieved some historic Test wins overseas and in limited overs cricket, but somehow the World Cup trophy eluded him in his playing days and now in his coaching career.
Dravid got close to winning the title as a player in the 2003 World Cup and as coach of the U-19 team in 2016, but India ended up losing both the finals. Hence, the victory on Saturday was something that will undoubtedly give a lot of pleasure and satisfaction to one of the greats of Indian cricket.
