Rahul Dravid is enjoying his time off the game after his coaching tenure with Team India ended following the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph in June.
The 51-year-old recently went to Paris to watch the Olympic Games. He was also in attendance during the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2024 final between Lyca Kovai Kings and Dindigul Dragons at Chepauk on Sunday (August 4).
The official X (formerly Twitter) handle of TNPL posted a video of Dravid talking to a presenter on the sidelines of the title clash.
On being welcomed to Chepauk and congratulated by the presenter on bringing the T20 World Cup title home, Dravid said, "Thank you so much. Thanks a lot. It's just lovely to be back here at Chepauk. This is a ground I have so many fond memories of, so it's great to be here."
Sharing his fondest of memories at Chepauk, the former India coach replied, "Playing league cricket here would be the fondest, because I played with friends, really enjoyed myself playing league cricket here and ofcourse, some Test matches I got my 10000th run in Test cricket here at this ground. Played some fantastic Test matches against Australia, against England. Lots of matches come mind, winning the World Cup game against Australia, so there are a lot of things that come to my mind at this ground."
Talking about his association with the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, Dravid said: "I loved playing my league cricket here for India Cements. I came here as a young man of 21, played 3-4 years of league cricket here and then played for India but I kept coming back to play league cricket and really learnt a lot and really enjoyed my time here, it was tough cricket, it was hard cricket but learnt a lot. I grew a lot as a cricketer during that time just before playing for India and it made a big difference."
On his thoughts about TNPL, Dravid said, "These leagues like TNPL, KPL, have been terrific as they provide a lot of great opportunities to so many young people, look at this kind of crowd, for these young boys to be able play in front of this crowd I think it's just phenomenal and it really gives them a great boost, so well done to the TNCA for organizing this and doing this in such a spectacular fashion and it's great to see some young players playing but it's also great to see the old veteran Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin) still contributing and still winning games for his team."
Rahul Dravid was appointed India’s head coach in October 2021. Under his guidance, India reached the final of the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup last year. However, the team failed to cross final hurdles as they lost to Australia on both occasions.
Dravid ended his coaching career with an ICC trophy as Rohit Sharma and his men clinched the T20 World Cup title in the Caribbean.
Now, rumours are rife that Dravid is in talks with the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals to take up the head coach role.
