Cheteshwar Pujara, India's current Test No.3, has often spoken about Rahul Dravid’s influence on him. While growing up in the 1990s, Pujara always looked up to Dravid and experts time and again draw parallels between their batting styles.
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It is not only the cricketing qualities that Pujara tried to imbibe in his life from Dravid, but many that have helped him to keep personal and professional lives separate.
"He helped me understand the importance of switching off from cricket. I had the same thought, more or less, but when I spoke to him, it gave me a lot of clarity about it and I was sure of what I needed to do," Pujara told ESPNcricinfo.
"I also saw in county cricket how they keep personal and professional lives separate. I value that advice a lot. Many people consider me to be focused. Yes, I am focused, But I also know when to switch off. There is life beyond cricket."
In his illustrious international career, Dravid aggregated 13288 Test runs from 164 games at an average of 52.31 with 36 hundreds and 63 fifties. He also proved his mettle in the limited-overs format, scoring 10889 ODI runs in 344 matches at an average of 3916 including 12 tons and 83 half-centuries.
Dravid’s contribution to Indian cricket wasn’t only restrained to his batting. He led the country in 25 Tests and 79 ODIs, winning 8 and 42 respectively. During his stint as captain, there was also a change in mindset as the Indian cricket team broke the record for most consecutive victories (17) batting second in the 50-over format.
"I cannot say in one line what Rahul bhai means to me. He has always been an inspiration, and will remain one," Pujara said.
Asked about his comparisons with Dravid, Pujara said despite my enchantment with the latter, he never tried to "copy him."
"There is a similarity in our games, but that's not because of my fascination with him. That came mainly through my experiences with Saurashtra, where I learned that scoring a hundred alone isn't enough, you have to carry your team," he said.
"That is how I learned responsibility - it is about helping my team to raise a big total, and for that I ought to attach importance to my wicket. I learned that from my junior cricket days with Saurashtra, which was a weaker team in domestic cricket."
