How Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli Managed Tough Conversations Without Letting Ego Clash

Indian cricket still misses the Rahul Dravid era after their first ICC Champions Trophy victory and T20 World Cup win. It was also one of the most beloved 28-month period for that team, who won one ICC title – the 2024 T20 World Cup – and lost two. The team spirit, transparency and communication was excellent; this is not the case with the current team. While Gautam Gambhir has been an excellent white-ball coach for India with zero losses in ICC events, the controversy with Virat Kohli has left a bad taste in his coaching experience.

It’s not official. No mention of Kohli-Gambhir equation has been made anywhere yet but it is an open fact that communication gap is all but confirmed after Kohli's fiery RCB podcast.

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It's baffling that the move from Ravi Shastri to Dravid as coach and the way Indian cricket has developed since then is so good and smooth. Wriddhiman Saha was removed from the Indian Test with great professionalism by Dravid, leaving it in no doubt that the wicketkeeper was no longer a part of the Indian Test scheme of things. It wasn't all plain sailing when Dravid replaced Shastri and Rohit Sharma assumed the mantle of the all-format captain of India but Dravid took it upon himself to do right by Indian cricket.

Former India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, who was in charge during Rahul Dravid's tenure, spoke on The Hook podcast about how the head coach played a large role and how the credit goes to Rahul for being very clear, open and honest in his communication.

“Rahul had the talks with Virat, we shared the plans with him, it is not as if Rohit was the only one who knew. Virat also knew the plans. Virat might not have been at all the talks but, when we spoke with Rohit, we were speaking to Virat as well. That was the reason for the smoothness, there was a camaraderie.

The reasons for Dravid's being a great coach

Indian sport has not seen a great player turn into a great coach very often. One such person was Kapil Dev. After Shastri's departure, setting a high benchmark, a serious challenge was in store for Dravid, who had been in charge of India A and the Under-19 team. Dravid, who had also played a share of the game, had experienced some of the roughest times in Indian cricket under Greg Chappell. With that in mind when he accepted the head coaching job, The Wall knew what he had to do -- and what he had to stay away from.

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“Rahul was a great player, right? But it’s important to understand that as a player and coach, you have to be different. It’s a line that you need to understand. As a player, you’re always in the front, but once you become a coach, you then say, ‘I need to be behind. You never saw Dravid in the limelight. He understands because he has been a player himself. He understood what problems a player can face,” added Mhambrey.

“If you have a coach who’s in your face all the time, how can the atmosphere not be impacted? He understood that really well. It’s not easy. Sometimes the ego comes in, but Rahul was nice, took a back seat, and gave Rohit an opportunity. Rahul also had disagreements, but he put his point across with a lot of faith. But after that, you allow the captain to take over. Then it becomes complex. We had tough conversations, but sometimes you also need to challenge your ideas and views.”

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