Former India captain, Rahul Dravid reckons that Virat Kohli is well aware of the fact that a cricketer earns immense respect only after doing well in Test cricket. Dravid, popularly known as ”The Wall”, also said that the batsmanship in eth longest format of the game has become exciting to watch now as batsmen focus more on scoring runs.
During a podcast on ESPNCricnfo with Sanjay Manjrekar, Dravid said, “I actually believe Test batsmanship has become more exciting than before, the aggressive element of Test batsmanship is going forward, players are playing shots and it is good to see, a good thing for India is Virat Kohli really values Test cricket, he understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come from his success in Test cricket.”
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Dravid also elaborated that defensive batting in cricket hasn’t become irrelevant, but added that players can have successful careers without having a good defensive technique.
Former Indian skipper explained, “I don’t think it is becoming irrelevant, maybe the value of defensive batting is not the same as it was a generation ago, I think you still need to defend your wicket if you want to score suns. Today, you do not need to have a good Test career to have a successful career, look at the best players in the world today, a lot of them have a good defensive technique and they can play out difficult periods of the game.”
The 47-year-old Dravid also said that youngsters want to represent their country in all three formats during their initial days, but eventually, they become real as time passes by. He played 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and one T20I for India and eventually became the only player in the history of cricket to be involved in two 300-plus ODI partnerships.
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Rahul Dravid has also coached the Indian junior sides (India U-19 and India A) and he is now the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA). He also led the side during his playing days and under his leadership, the side had managed to register their first Test series win in England.
