Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has strong views especially related to India cricket. The cricketer-turned-politician recently named Rahul Dravid as the most underrated cricketer and leader. Gambhir pointed out that Dravid is not given enough credit as a leader as compared to the likes of Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni.
Dravid became full-time captain of India in 2005 after Ganguly called it quits after the Test series against Pakistan. Under Dravid, the Indian team in ODI cricket improved drastically when it came to chasing down totals. The problem that haunted India since the 1990s eradicated once Dravid took the captaincy reigns.
Rahul Dravid was an underrated leader – Gautam Gambhir
In the longest Format, Dravid led his side to overseas series wins in West Indies and England respectively. In 2006, team India defeated West Indies at their home and followed it up with a 1-0 win over England in 2007. The only blemish in Dravid’s captaincy career was the 2007 ODI World Cup where team India was knocked out in the group stage itself.
“I made my ODI debut under Sourav Ganguly, I made my Test debut under Rahul Dravid. It is so unfortunate that we do not give enough credit for his captaincy as well. We only talk about Sourav Ganguly or MS Dhoni and now about Virat Kohli. But Rahul Dravid has been a fabulous captain for India.”
“Even his records, he is probably the most underrated cricketer and probably the most underrated leader as well. We won in England, we won in West Indies and we won 14 or 15 games on the trot. But look at Rahul Dravid as a cricketer,” Gambhir said during Star Sports show, ‘Cricket Connected’.
Dravid had a bigger impact
Gautam Gambhir pointed out the versatility of Dravid who performed exceedingly well in whatever role was given to him by the Indian team. He also went on to add that Dravid in his opinion has had the most impact in Indian cricket. Gambhir lauded the former India captain who throughout his career player under the shadow of Sachin Tendulkar but was able to match his impact.
“Even his records, he is probably the most underrated cricketer and probably the most underrated leader as well. We won in England, we won in West Indies and we won 14 or 15 games on the trot. But look at Rahul Dravid as a cricketer.”
He added, “You asked him to open the batting in Test cricket and he did that. He kept wickets for India, he batted as a finisher. Rahul did everything Indian cricket or a captain asked him to do and that is the kind of role models you want.”
“For me, I think he has had a bigger impact. Sourav Ganguly has always had a bigger impact in white-ball cricket because of his flamboyance but Rahul Dravid overall in Indian cricket had a much bigger impact than probably anyone. You can actually match his impact on someone like Tendulkar as well. He played under the shadow of Sachin Tendulkar all his life, but impact wise probably the same,” Gambhir concluded.