How Rahul Dravid Enriched Indian Cricket?

Dravid, who recently coached the victorious U-19 Indian team for the ICC U-19 World Cup...

- Bhavesh Bhimani

The eleventh season of the Indian Premiere League (IPL) has seen some really impressive performances from Indian youngsters. While the IPL has always provided a platform for talented Indian youngsters to excel, over the last couple of seasons, a host of names have come to the fore in the tournament and made a name for themselves.

In IPL 2018, the likes of Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi and Shubman Gill have performed exceedingly well and have come in for plenty of accolades. While these talented youngsters deserve every bit of the praise, one must not forget that the real credit goes to the one who has honed them over the years. Ex-Indian batting great Rahul Dravid has been responsible for molding several young Indian colts over the past few years and his efforts are bearing fruit now.

Dravid, who recently coached the victorious U-19 Indian team for the ICC U-19 World Cup in New Zealand, always tends to stay away from the spotlight. But ever since he has been given the responsibility of coaching the Indian colts in 2015, a lot of promising new talent has emerged.

Prithvi Shaw, the captain of the Indian U-19 team and currently opening the batting for Delhi Daredevils, has been one of the big beneficiaries of Dravid’s mentorship. During the 2016/17 Ranji Trophy, Mumbai were struggling to find an opener ahead of their semifinal clash. It was Dravid who insisted selector Milind Rege to include Shaw as the opener. Shaw was thus given a Ranji debut and he went on to slam a sparkling 120 to guide Mumbai to the finals. Ever since he has not looked back.