Rahul Dravid says legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev’s advice helped him to explore options after his retirement, before eventually taking up the coaching job of the India A and Under-19 sides.
Dravid said he was also “a little fortunate” that at the back end of his career he was already in a captain-cum-coach’s role in the IPL side Rajasthan Royals.
“After I finished (playing), there were quite a few options and I was not sure what to do. It was Kapil Dev who gave me this advice actually when I was coming to the end of my career,” Dravid told India women’s team coach W.V. Raman on his YouTube channel Inside Out.
“I bumped into him somewhere and he said, ‘Rahul, don’t commit to doing anything straightaway. Go out and spend a few years just exploring and doing different things and see what you really like’. I thought it was good advice.”
The former captain said initially he liked doing commentary, but later found “a little disconnected” from the game. “... The thing that gave me the most satisfaction was really being involved in the game and being connected with the boys.
“I really liked the coaching side of things and I got sort of involved in that when the opportunity came up to do some coaching with India A and the Under-19 team,” Dravid said.
“I thought it was a good place to start and took it up, and I’ve really enjoyed it since. I just feel a lot more satisfying to be involved in the coaching side of things,” said the batsman, who piled up 13,288 runs from 164 Tests between 1996 and 2012.
