‘Talent Comes From Everywhere…’: Rahul Dravid Hails Talent Pool Of Domestic Cricket
Rahul Dravid hails India's domestic infrastructure (x.com)
Rahul Dravid is of the opinion that Indian cricket has transformed into a cogent force, thanks to the ever-expanding pool of talented players. The former Indian captain acknowledged that players worthy of national selection can now be found from all corners of the country, as opposed to the major concentration of players that came from a handful of big cities during the initial few decades of Indian cricket.
Dravid hails strong base for talented Indian cricketers
While speaking during the 50th year celebration of Mount Joy Cricket Club, legendary Indian batter Rahul Dravid said that the nation’s cricketing infrastructure has become ‘extremely strong’ because talented players have started to emerge from all corners of the country.
He added that back when he was starting out his journey, majority of Indian players like GR Vishwanath originated from either big cities or came from a handful of other states. He said:
“If you look at Indian cricket today, Indian cricket is extremely strong, it's extremely powerful. One of the big reasons for that is that talent comes from everywhere, from all over the country.”
“I think if you go back to the time of say GR Vishwanath or even when I was starting out my career, most of the talent came from the big cities or from few other states. Even if they were talented boys in smaller places, they had to come to the big cities to play cricket. But today I think you see in Indian cricket that boys are coming from everywhere.”
Rahul Dravid emphasized the importance of expanding the nation’s talent pool and said that it is imperative to spread the infrastructure to every corner instead of concentrating the search to just “one or two places”. He added:
“You cannot have talent or you cannot have facilities concentrated only in one or two places. To get the best out of talent, we need to ensure that young boys and girls are getting access to good infrastructure in every part.”
Rahul Dravid recently masterminded India’s T20 World Cup 2024 win in the West Indies in late-June, where the ‘Men in Blue’ lifted the trophy by defeating South Africa in a hard-fought finale. Dravid eventually stepped down as Team India head coach, thus making way for Gautam Gambhir to take up the high-profile job.
Earlier this month, the legendary Indian cricketer joined the Rajasthan Royals franchise as its new head coach.
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