‘Rahul Dravid has no ego’: Shoaib Malik shares an anecdote about India’s batting legend and coach | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: After retiring from cricket as one of the greatest batters the sport has seen, Rahul Dravid transitioned from being the head of National Cricket Academy to be the coach of India under-19, India ‘A’ and now the senior Indian team. Heaping praise on Dravid, former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik shared a personal anecdote, reflecting on how the former India captain’s workman-like learing attitude is taking Indian cricket to new heights.
Under head coach Dravid, the Indian team is on an unbeaten run in the ongoing ICC World Cup, having won all their six matches so far. They will take on Sri Lanka in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Talking on the Pakistan news channel ‘A Sports’, Malik said it’s the self-less approach of Dravid that is helping him do well in his role as India coach, especially having worked his way up from the time he was appointed India under-19 coach.

(ANI Photo)
To highlight that aspect of Dravid’s character, Malik shared an anecdote.
“We were travelling from Pakistan to New Zealand. At the same time (on the same flight), the Indian under-19 team was travelling,” Malik narrated, as the other guests on the show, including Wasim Akram, Moin Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, listened to the story.

“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’,” Malik said.

“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).”