Rahul Dravid had much bigger impact in Indian cricket than Sourav Ganguly: Gautam Gambhir

[Ankit_sharma03]

Over the years, Indian cricket hasn't only been blessed in terms of quality bowlers or batsmen at their disposal, but also have found able leaders, who set the path for excellence for the next batch. 

It all started with Sourav Ganguly's leadership, as the national side commenced the 'repair work' post the match-fixing scandal. While Ganguly brought in fresh faces and backed them to the core, he also made full use of his senior mates, such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, etc.

Though most hail MS Dhoni after Ganguly's era, Dravid also held the responsibility of the side for a brief period. Many remember his captaincy for India's miserable run in the 2007 World Cup, however, the former captain had several achievements as well.

Under him, India won its first-ever Test on South African soil, defeated England and West Indies in their own backyards in 2006 and 2007 respectively and became a much better side in chasing totals. Apart from his leadership, Dravid remains an icon for performing exceedingly in several roles for the team's sake in crisis. Some of them are: keeping wickets for a balanced combination, playing as a finisher in the latter part of his ODI career, opening the innings in Tests, protecting the batting line-up with his solid defence against the new ball, etc.

In today's times, he remains an ardent servant of Indian cricket, being the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) after successfully stamping his authority as a U-19 and India A coach.

Thus, former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir hailed Dravid and made a big claim on him. Gambhir said during Star Sports show, ‘Cricket Connected’, "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," he stated.

Gambhir further opined, "You asked him to open the batting in Test cricket and he did that. He kept wickets for India, he batted as a finisher. He 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 Sachin Tendulkar as well. He played under the shadow of Sachin Tendulkar all his life, but impact wise probably the same."

 

Without a doubt, Dhoni took over the team, made it a temperamentally stronger unit and raised their game awareness before handing over the reins to Virat Kohli, the platform was set for both of them by Ganguly, who in turn, had a selfless teammate in Dravid.

 

Link - https://www.timesnownews.com/sports/cricket/article/rahul-dravid-had-much-bigger-impact-in-indian-cricket-than-sourav-ganguly-gautam-gambhir/609736?fbclid=IwAR3sAYSJW1VLki2EaimAjHWctn0YSDf5IpWUh-cGlM1mP-nBFH8dBSp9EbA

[nevada]

The series wins in England and WI under Dravid are so underrated! People only remember the 2007 world cup debacle. 

[Manny_Pacquiao]

My opinion on dravid is more or less settled on:

Overrated test batsman, underrated one day batsman.

 

I don't think he was as good a test batsman as he's given credit for. He never had any outstanding performances against the best bowling attacks. The closest being the 180 vs Australia at eden gardens, supporting Laxman's 281, which is the greatest test match innings ever (my opinion).

 

The fact that his best innings was him playing second fiddle (or a supporting role) says everything about him.

 

I'm biased towards 'attacking' batsmen; the ones who could dominate good bowlers, force them to change their line and length, and lead partnerships. Dravid didn't do that, he was more of a partnership builder who'd occupy the crease, survive good spells and rotate strike. His game was less about scoring, and more about not getting out. Valuable certainly, but not strongly impactful.

 

I'd consider virender sehwag to be more 'impactful'. He could wipe out leads almost singlehandedly, and dominated good bowlers (like muralitharan) by forcing them to change their plans. His game prioritized run scoring over wicket protection, which allowed him to impact games in a much stronger way. A sehwag innings would change the course of a game and position india for victory, whereas a dravid innings would ensure india doesn't lose. Big difference.

 

Dravid gets too much respect because his best test series were away from home (England 2002, 2011, australia 2003-4, etc). Indian cricket 'observers' or critics, had the habit of over-valuing overseas performances, while forgetting that most of india's relevant cricket was (and still is) played at home.

 

In subcontinent test matches, i always thought he was no better than india's 4th best batsman, behind tendulkar, sehwag, and laxman.

 

He became an outstanding one day batsman, at least for that era. He happened to be india's BEST ODI batsman for a while (2004-2007). But for some reason, he isn't a consensus choice in an all time Indian XI.

 

 

2 hours ago, nevada said:

The series wins in England and WI under Dravid are so underrated! People only remember the 2007 world cup debacle. 

 

 

And rightly so.

 

World cup exit in the first round is an absolute disaster.

 

A test series win - even if it happens away from home - is inconsequential.

[maniac]

Dravid the batsman is overrated, Dravid the keeper is underrated. 
 

Dravid this messiah leading youngsters to salvation after sacrificing his own personal wealth and family life is a hoax, Dravid the captain not getting any credit for as a tactician and a good captain is criminal.

[coffee_rules]

His catching and s underrated 

 

 

[SK_IH]

Dravid was the finest no doubt. I think he should have been made the captain in 2004, Ganguly was past his sell by date post Asia Cup in 2004. 

[rkt.india]

17 hours ago, Manny_Pacquiao said:

My opinion on dravid is more or less settled on:

Overrated test batsman, underrated one day batsman.

 

I don't think he was as good a test batsman as he's given credit for. He never had any outstanding performances against the best bowling attacks. The closest being the 180 vs Australia at eden gardens, supporting Laxman's 281, which is the greatest test match innings ever (my opinion).

 

The fact that his best innings was him playing second fiddle (or a supporting role) says everything about him.

 

I'm biased towards 'attacking' batsmen; the ones who could dominate good bowlers, force them to change their line and length, and lead partnerships. Dravid didn't do that, he was more of a partnership builder who'd occupy the crease, survive good spells and rotate strike. His game was less about scoring, and more about not getting out. Valuable certainly, but not strongly impactful.

 

I'd consider virender sehwag to be more 'impactful'. He could wipe out leads almost singlehandedly, and dominated good bowlers (like muralitharan) by forcing them to change their plans. His game prioritized run scoring over wicket protection, which allowed him to impact games in a much stronger way. A sehwag innings would change the course of a game and position india for victory, whereas a dravid innings would ensure india doesn't lose. Big difference.

 

Dravid gets too much respect because his best test series were away from home (England 2002, 2011, australia 2003-4, etc). Indian cricket 'observers' or critics, had the habit of over-valuing overseas performances, while forgetting that most of india's relevant cricket was (and still is) played at home.

 

In subcontinent test matches, i always thought he was no better than india's 4th best batsman, behind tendulkar, sehwag, and laxman.

 

He became an outstanding one day batsman, at least for that era. He happened to be india's BEST ODI batsman for a while (2004-2007). But for some reason, he isn't a consensus choice in an all time Indian XI.

 

 

 

 

And rightly so.

 

World cup exit in the first round is an absolute disaster.

 

A test series win - even if it happens away from home - is inconsequential.

World cup for me is inconsequential. Test series win in SENA matters more than an ODI WC.

[beetle]

https://www.wisden.com/stories/news-stories/dravid-beats-tendulkar-in-wisden-india-poll-on-greatest-indian-test-batsman

[Sandeep99]

He was a better Indian test captain than Ganguly for sure. 2007 England and West Indies series wins are really underrated. 

[Rasgulla]

On 6/22/2020 at 3:48 PM, maniac said:

Dravid the batsman is overrated, Dravid the keeper is underrated. 
 

Dravid this messiah leading youngsters to salvation after sacrificing his own personal wealth and family life is a hoax, Dravid the captain not getting any credit for as a tactician and a good captain is criminal.

Just shut it you clown. Blah Blah Blah 

Edited June 25, 2020 by Rasgulla

[Cricketics]

Dravid being called overrated test batsmen, lol. Guess i have seen it all. 52 average in test cricket, saving India's @ss so many times. Sorry to say, some of you guys have no clue what test cricket is about if you call Dravid an overrated test batsman. 

 

Your usage of the word overrated has been overly used. Need to figure that part out. Someone like Dravid in test cricket ca never be considered overrated. He was a gem and class apart who saved us more times than anyone did probably.