Ahead of India’s white-ball tour of Sri Lanka ranging from July 18,, the likes of Sanju Samson and Devdutt Padikkal have been all praises for collection head coach Rahul Dravid and lauded his “calm” and “humble” nature on Thursday.
With Virat Kohli and different key gamers in England for the upcoming five-Test collection in opposition to the hosts, a new-look India will tackle Sri Lanka in a limited-overs tour, comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is.
India will likely be led by senior batsman Shikhar Dhawan and seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will likely be his deputy.
When #TeamIndia wentLights ⚡️Camera 📸Action 🎬
The pleasure is build up forward of the ODI collection in opposition to Sri Lanka 👌 👌 #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/fo1HrkTR8B
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 14, 2021
In an interplay on Star Sports’ present Follow The Blues, wicketkeeper-batsman Samson talked about how lucky the younger weapons are to have learnt the commerce from the legendary Dravid, who performed in 164 Tests and 344 ODIs for India.
“Each and every individual in the India A side or the juniors going into the Indian team have been fortunate to go through a person called Rahul Dravid. We are very lucky to learn our cricket from him,” mentioned Samson.
“I remember going to the Rajasthan Royals trials one day – I batted really well – and he came up to me and asked me a question ‘can you play for my team?’. So, that was the biggest moment of my life, and I can never forget that. That shows how great a human being he is, and I really enjoy his company.”
Opener Padikkal pitched within the dialog too.
“I have always been awestruck by how incredibly calm and gentle a human being he is. To have achieved so much in cricket and to be so down-to-earth, humble and kind towards everyone is incredible to watch. To have him as our coach, you couldn’t ask for anything more,” mentioned the 21-year-old.
Nitish Rana, the Kolkata Knight Riders opener, expressed his need to develop persistence much like the 48-year-old Dravid.
“I have heard that Rahul Dravid as a coach is similar to Rahul Dravid as a player. I wish I could bring even one per cent of the patience he has within me; it will be a big achievement for me,” he mentioned.