Rahul Dravid, legendary Indian batsman, and current National Cricket Academy (NCA) head has admitted that his illustrious cricketing journey had its own “share of ups and downs” and even insisted no individual’s career is ever simple but his love for the game kept him going.
He told Ayaz Memon during the third talk of TRUTHtalks series hosted by Desh Apnayen Sahayog Foundation and Satya Vigyan Foundation: “I have had my share of ups and downs but I think what's kept me going is just the love for the game and just trying to get the best of myself.”
After finishing as one of India's batting legends, the former India captain took up coaching and he believes coaching is not just about guiding a cricketer but coaching a person as a human being.
The legendary batsman is known as one of the simplest sportspersons on the planet who arguably has zero haters and he said this was all – good or bad given by the cricket. Former India A and U19 coach said whatever he is today all because of playing cricket for his country.
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Dravid continued, “In sports, you are put in the spotlight a lot and your failure is very public, as your success is as well and you need to deal with that. It isn’t easy at times; it sometimes makes you do things that you necessarily not very proud of and sometimes you learn from those things. It has become so much more competitive today than it has actually become harder for a sportsman to have a normal life.”
On being asked about guiding principles in his personal and professional life, Dravid said: “Being honest to who I am and try being myself and recognize that you know I am only the custodian of the game for a short period of time and I need to try to leave the game at a better place when I am going to leave.”
He also opened up about the issue surfaced post the U-19 World Cup victorious campaign when he felt hurt that he got a higher prize amount than the rest of the support staff.
Dravid signed off by saying: “We as support staff did our bit to create the environment and I felt that everyone had played their part and so I just felt a little unfair that I was being paid a little bit extra.”
(With ANI Inputs)
