Rahul Dravid’s Strange Advice To Ajinkya Rahane Before The Australia Tour

Rahul Dravid’s ‘this’ advice about batting will make you scratch your head. What is it?

'Don't bat a lot in nets' said Dravid to Rahane. (Source: Getty Images)

‘The wall’, Dravid is constantly in touch with the current young Indian players and is often credited for his anchor role in training the U-19 Indian teams, India A team and constantly being involved in the process of training young players and making them ready for the international stage. He was also credited for the success of Indian team in Australia as a lot of young players who trained under Dravid rose to the occasion and performed really well. But recently, in an interview with Harsha Bhogale, Ajinkya Rahane revealed a weird suggestion given to him by Rahul Dravid. Actually Dravid has suggested Rahane to not bat in the nets for long durations.

Rahane said: “Rahul bhai actually called me before the series, when we were leaving to Australia from Dubai. He said, 'Don't take any stress, I know you are leading the team after the first Test. Don't worry about anything, just be strong mentally. Don't bat a lot in the nets', (which is) unlike Rahul bhai.” He was a little confused about it when Dravid gave him this advice. To which, Rahane added, “Rahul bhai loves batting, and he was like 'that's the mistake I did'. He said, 'don't bat a lot in the nets, your preparation is really good, you're batting so well. So, don't take any pressure. Just think about how you are going to lead the team, how you are going to give confidence to the players. Don't worry about the result, it will take care of itself'. That conversation really made it easy -- Rahul bhai telling me to not bat a lot in the nets. It was really good."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Always wanted to ask <a href="https://twitter.com/ajinkyarahane88?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@ajinkyarahane88</a> about the cake he was offered with a kangaroo on it and why he refused to cut it. The small things that tell you more about a person. More of this conversation on his FB page. <a href="https://t.co/YZwwQKlFJq" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/YZwwQKlFJq</a></p>&mdash; Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) <a href="https://twitter.com/bhogleharsha/status/1355345017766780933?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>January 30, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Actually, the conversation was taking place in the backdrop of the fact that Rahane would be leading India in the absence of Virat Kohli. Dravid must know the pressure one must feel when given the added responsibility of being a captain. Looks like, Dravid’s advice was taken seriously by Rahane as India and Rhane looked calm all throughout the series. In fact, in the interview with Bhogale, Rahane said that when he got out in the final Test match and Pant was walking in, he only said one thing to Pant: “There’s just 20 minutes to go for Tea. Just be careful, but do whatever you want after Tea.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Proud to be a part of this unit 🇮🇳 <a href="https://t.co/bZZupXEAfE" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/bZZupXEAfE</a></p>&mdash; Ajinkya Rahane (@ajinkyarahane88) <a href="https://twitter.com/ajinkyarahane88/status/1351461621273563139?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>January 19, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Rahane’s attitude is visible in these small chats. Earlier, Ajinkya Rahane had reportedly told that he and Dravid chat over phone and he got congratulatory messages from the great man after the victories in Melbourne and Brisbane.