Rahul Dravid had enough of 'Shubman Gill'; ex-India coach couldn't catch a break: 'Everywhere I went, all I heard was…'

Rahul Dravid has always been a great servant of Indian cricket, first as a batter, then as captain, and later as coach of the India Under-19, A and the men's national team. His contributions promise to stand the test of time. From making his international debut at Lord's in 1996 to finishing as India's then-second-highest run-getter when he retired in 2012 after a 16-year-long career, Dravid has been an absolute legend of a man for cricket fans and his peers alike and continues to do so. Dravid achieved everything during his India career that a genius batter would – register multiple batting records, become the world's No. 1 Test batter, ICC Player of the Year and multiple centuries – and the only thing he missed as a player, The Wall achieved as coach of the Indian team, winning the World Cup. Rahul Dravid and Shubman Gill during the 2023 World Cup in India(AFP)

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Dravid's philosophy has always been to give back the game he loved and so deeply cherished. His time as coach of the India A and Under-19 teams was truly special as he oversaw the rise of the superstars of Indian cricket today. Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh, Abhishek Sharma, among many. But all through his time, one name stood out in particular. In fact, Dravid was bombarded with this talent's name even before he met him, but once he did, he realised what all the fuss was about.

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"Shubman Gill was the obvious one, along with Prithvi Shaw. Many people discovered Shubman Gill. Because everywhere I went, all I heard was Shubman Gill, whoa, this player Shubman Gill. And it's true, when you come through this Indian system, where you are a special player like Vaibhav [Suryavanshi] or [Ayush] Mhatre, they have been through so many coaches, scouts. Before I actually saw Shubman Gill, about six people had told me there's this kid called Shubman Gill, and that he's a very good player and things like that," Dravid told R Ashwin on the former India spinner's YouTube show 'Kutti Stories'.

Not individual player but Indian talent as a whole makes you go 'Wow', says Dravid

The Dravid-Gill pair won India the Under-19 World Cup in 2018, under captain Prithvi Shaw. Having said that, Dravid couldn't help but not pick a single name that he saw blossom. There were many.

"I can't say one. That would be very unfair. I think when I saw Rishabh for the first time, I knew this guy was something different. Looking back at the 2016 batch, I thought even someone like Khaleel Ahmed… still finding his way in, still not able to crack it… but when you saw him in Under-19, you thought ‘wow, this kid has some ability for a young fast bowler'," Dravid added.

"Riyan [Parag] was in there too. When I first saw Sanju Samson at 18 years old, he looked a million bucks. And you continue to see that. So many names are not mentioned. It's not one kid that makes you go 'Wow', actually it's just the talent coming through the Indian system that makes you go 'Wow'. Even now, when you are at IPL trials and see new kids coming through, it's just incredible to see where all this talent is coming from."

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