RAHUL DRAVID REVIVING THE OLDER SYNERGY

As Rahul Dravid became the couch of the Indian International Men’s cricket team he brought back several customs that were being followed by the Indian Cricket Team in the era before the term of Shastri – Kohli. The team shows the old custom of handing over the cap to the debutant by a former stalwart of the Indian Cricket Team. The tradition of acknowledging the work of the groundsmen and rewarding them for their hard work also came back to action.

In the debut match of Shreyas Iyer received his cap from former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar. Rahul Dravid has also made his point clear to carry on this practice of this tradition even in the future. This was the tradition that was carried by the Indian Cricket team till Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But as the power shifted in the hands of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, this practice was no more in the team. This is a good practice where the new players can feel the joy of receiving the cap from a player whom they have seen creating history and got inspired to be in this field.

Furthermore, the tradition of appreciating and rewarding the ground staff was also followed till the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. In the recent series against New Zealand, Rahul Dravid was awarded Rs. 35000 to the ground staff during the first Test match at Kanpur and then the Wankhade Stadium in Mumbai for the second test.

Rahul Dravid is likely to revive the practice of participating in domestic cricket for improving the performance of the player who is struggling with poor performance and who is not in good form. The player who is returning from any injury making any comeback after a long break has to prove themselves first in order to be in the team. The selection for the international team is likely to be done on the basis of their performance in the domestic match, not in the Indian Premier League.