The new era of the Indian cricket team under the leadership of Rohit Sharma as the new T20I skipper and head coach Rahul Dravid kickstarted on a blockbuster note yesterday as India thrashed New Zealand by 5 wickets to go up by 1-0 in the ongoing 3-match T20I series. Though they have a long way to go but this was a much-required headstart to their journey.
The Indian side went into a transitional phase rather quickly in the shortest format of the game, just days after their disappointing outing in the T20 World Cup, in which India failed to qualify for the knockout stages.
Legendary batsman and former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels that the appointment of Rahul Dravid as the head coach of the Indian side will bring security to the squad. He also feels Rahul Dravid shares a lot of similarities with the Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma.
Ahead of the game last night, speaking on Star Sports Follow the Blues show, Sunil Gavaskar reckoned that Rahul Dravid had always provided the Indian batting order with security as a batter. Now he expects him to show similar security but in a different role. Speaking about the same, Gavaskar said:
“When he used to play, we used to think that till Rahul Dravid is at the crease, the Indian batting is safe and strong. This is the reason why I believe that the new responsibility of head coach that falls upon him, he will be able to handle it in a similar way,”
Further, Gavaskar opined that both Rahul and Rohit, who have been very successful in their careers, are very similar in terms of their temperaments and he is confident that they will share a great bond with each other. He said:
“If you look at both of their temperaments, they are quite similar. Rohit is of a quiet nature, just like Rahul Dravid.”
He added:
“So I think their bond will be quite good because both of them will understand each other well,”
