Be it bouncy tracks or slow tracks, former Indian captain Rahul Dravid never complained about the conditions and kept scoring runs to bring glory to India. His focus and temperament made him one of the most dedicated players in history.
A very interesting story was brought out by Vikram Sathaye on his show ‘What the Duck’ about the former top-order Indian batsman. In this talk, Sathaye had asked Dravid about how once guests complained saying that they heard weird noises coming from his hotel room.
“Are you aware of the fact that hotel guests used to complain, people who were especially living next to your room that weird noises would come out of Rahul Dravid’s room because there was actually a net practice happening there. The night before,” a laughing Sathaye said.
The former Indian captain replied very modestly by saying “No, I mean, I wasn’t. I mean you carry a bat with me, I like to carry the bat in my room and just sometimes, pick up the bat and get a feel of what it felt like in my hand and so when you are tapping the ground and sometimes you know, the people below you the floor, sometimes you get the odd calls and saying ‘can you stop that’.”
Sathaye also added another interesting story about the night practice sessions of the former Indian cricketer by saying “Vijeta (Rahul Dravid’s wife) said that early in your marriage she thought you were sleep walking.”
A laughing Dravid replied saying, “No, I mean it happens so sometimes you can’t get sleep. So, you know swinging the bat or you just you know sort of practicing a drill something and I think that’s a lot of batsmen will do that. They’ll sort of and you are taught that as a youngster.
“You used to drill your technique in front of a mirror, so you know practicing, sort of shadow practicing and it just becomes the habit and it’s almost a comfort feeling I think. It’s just a little bit of a comfort feeling when you feel nervous and pick up your bat and shadow practice and imagine you self-smashing the bowlers all over the ground.”
Hearing weird noises coming from the room of a cricketer nights before a game is not something one should think much about as every player will have their own process to prepare for a game.
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