Rahul Dravid was recently named as the head coach of the Indian side that will tour Sri Lanka in July. While Virat Kohli and co will be busy in England following the World Test Championship Final and ahead of their series against the home side, a second-string white-ball side is being sent to Sri Lanka comprising of several youngster and many experienced campaigners.
Younger as well as relatively inexperienced players like Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Varun Chakravarthy, and Chetan Sakariya have all been included in the squad that will take on Sri Lanka in the three-match ODI and T20I series.
The team will be captained by experienced Indian opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan and veteran bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar will act as his deputy. Former Indian batting great Rahul Dravid has been named as the coach of the side.
Dravid has been responsible for changing the developmental culture of cricket in India and his tenures with the Under-19 and India A sides as well as his stint at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore have helped fast-track the careers of several promising Indian talents who have shone on the big stages in recent years.
Dravid’s former teammate Sachin Tendulkar talked about his role as head coach of the side and seemed assured that the youngsters will learn a lot from him.
“These players have spent enough time with Rahul, so they know him. A coach is someone who should keep a healthy atmosphere in the team and the dressing room, and Rahul will do that. At this level, unless there are weaknesses, you don’t need to coach the players. They all know how to hit a cover drive or bowl an outswinger. When somebody is struggling, that’s when someone of his experience will play a role.
Otherwise, the team knows what they are supposed to do,” Tendulkar said in an interview with Times of India.
Tendulkar further talked about the importance of mental preparation and citing his own career as an example, discussed the anxieties he used to have before important matches. “For 10-12 years of my career, I couldn’t sleep on the eve of the match. I used to be wide awake tossing and turning in bed, constantly thinking about the match the next day.
“That anxiety and restlessness were palpable. After over a decade, I realized that this is perhaps how I prepare before a game and accepted that.
“I did not fight that feeling anymore. I would watch something on television, read or play a game. I did whatever I felt would help me play better the next day. It was not just about physical, but mental preparation too,” the batting great concluded
