(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik praised the Indian cricket team head coach Rahul Dravid as he believes the latter has no ego issues. Malik shared the bits of his conversation he had with Dravid while traveling to New Zealand.
Dravid, known as one of the most humble and down-to-earth persons, became India’s head coach in November 2021. However, the Men in Blue failed to produce desirable results under his coaching stint as they lost three major tournaments – T20I World Cup 2022, Asia Cup 2022 and the World Cup Test Championship 2023 final.
Many wrote off the 50-year-old as a coach, but the team is only tasting success in the ongoing ODI World Cup, having almost qualified for the knockout stage of tournament after winning all six matches. Moreover, India won the Asia Cup 2023 quite easily.
Malik recalled his chat with Dravid, revealing how humbly the Indian legend approached him.
“We were traveling from Pakistan to New Zealand. At the same time (on the same flight), the Indian under-19 team was traveling. Rahul Dravid was the under-19 coach then. I was sleeping, and he waited for two hours for me to wake up because he wanted to speak to me. He wanted to ask me ‘You have made so many comebacks, what motivates you?’. He said, ‘I am coaching the under-19 team, so I want to tell them what’s the psyche behind this’,” said Malik on A Sports.
Notably, Dravid, before joining Team India as the head honcho, had previously served as the gaffer of the India U-19 and A teams, In 2019, he was appointed as the head of cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Malik further appreciated the gesture made by Dravid and stated that he has no ego.
“So, what I am trying to say through this is that he has no ego. He wanted to learn what you go through (while trying to make a comeback). In his own career, he has seen lots of ups and downs. So, he asked me and I told him. I liked that a lot. The learning process never ends and look where the Indian team is standing today (under Rahul Dravid),” Malik added.