Rahul Dravid Says Mentoring Rajasthan Royals Will Help in Coaching U-19 Team
Rahul Dravid says he has learnt a lot from watching the game from the point of view of a coach - a fact that will help him train India's U-19 players.
Former India cricket captain Rahul Dravid said the experience he gathered during his stint as mentor of Indian Premier League (IPL) side Rajasthan Royals will come handy when he starts coaching the India A and Under-19 teams.
"The stint with Royals as mentor will definitely help me. The fact that I have spent a couple of years at Royals in the role of a mentor, I have seen the other side of what the sport is," Dravid, who was present as a chief guest at the convocation of International Institute of Sports Management along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, said. (Also read: Rahul Dravid says he has no aspirations to coach Team India)
The batting legend was appointed mentor of Royals in 2014.
"I have always seen it as a player and I have spent many years as a player. The couple of years that I spent outside in the management and the coaching side of things, there is a lot of learning that you get all the time, and the more you do, the more and the better you get. It is like playing. I am looking forward to it."
Dravid, who scored 24,177 runs across all formats of the game, stressed that he is not interested to coach the India senior team, adding that team director Ravi Shastri and his group is doing a good job.
"I am not thinking about it. I am only focussed on the India A and the India U-19 coaching jobs at the moment. Ravi and his team are doing a fantastic job with India and long it may continue. I have no aspirations to go up to that level at the moment," he said.
The 42-year-old said his job will be to help players get to the next level and not look into team selection.
"The selectors and the senior team management generally have a vision as to what sort of players they are looking to pick. Sometimes you pick young players in India A, sometimes you pick players who are looking to make a comeback and want to push for the national team, he said.
"I see my job as coaching the players they have selected and not in selection. My job is to coach and try to help them to get to the next level. I don't think you need to teach India A players how to play, they all know how to bat and bowl and they are there because they are successful," Dravid concluded.