I was never going to score like Virender Sehwag or Sachin Tendulkar: Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid happens to be a cricketer who is synonymous with patience and calmness, anyone who has seen the former Indian captain bat will agree to this.
Regarded as one of the most technically gifted batters of his generation, Dravid found himself alongside several stars, with more swagger and bravado in terms of their batting style.
Apart from his batting skills, the current India coach displayed mental fortitude like no other.
In an interview with India's first individual gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, Dravid disclosed what went into achieving such a zen-like mentality while batting.
"If I look back at my career, that (channelising the energy) was a game-changer. I was really able to channel my mental energy. I used to spend a lot of energy even when I was not playing thinking about my game, worrying about it, and reflecting on it. In time I learned that was not necessarily helping my batting. I needed to refresh and almost find a life outside of cricket," Dravid spoke on In the Zone podcast.
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Dravid delved deeper into his approach of handling world-class fast bowlers, which came with a lot of pressure.
"Honestly, I was never going to be like Viru (Virender Sehwag). He found it much easier to switch off because of his personality. I was never going to get to that level. But I started recognising the red flags, I realised when I was getting too intense. I knew I needed to find a way to switch it off but it was the mental side of the thing that you need to help yourself.
"It came down to you recognising that this was as important to you as those extra hours in the gym and practice sessions. If you did all of that but were unable to switch off mentally, you are not gonna have enough energy to play the game. Once I start recognising that three or four years in my career, I started to make an effort to switch off a lot more and it helped me a lot," he explained.
The 49-year-old concluded by saying that he understood that he wouldn't be able to replicate the approach of a Sehwag or a Sachin Tendulkar, instead he focused on his patient and composed approach.
"As my career progressed, I realised, I was never gonna be someone who will be scoring quickly like a Sehwag did or maybe to an extent as Sachin did. I was always going to need patience. I loved that contest between me and the bowler, sort of tried to make it a one-on-one contest. I found that help me concentrate a bit more," Dravid concluded.
Dravid is the second Indian batter to record 10,000+ runs in both ODIs and Tests, after Tendulkar.
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