5 life lessons we can all learn from Rahul Dravid

There are very few cricketers in world cricket, past or present, who are as admired for their personality as former Indian great Rahul Dravid and the admiration stretches across nations. His stellar career as one of the world's top batsmen and now, as a coach post retirement has taught a lot of people many lessons - both in and out of cricket.

Here is a look at some of the life lessons one could learn from the life and times of Rahul Dravid.

5 Patience

Restlessness can never lead to much in any sphere of life and it is particularly important for sportspersons, who can often end up making rash decisions if they do not respect the game enough or choose the wrong time to execute whatever they were planning.

In that regard, a Test match batsman needs to be extremely patient in order to succeed at the highest level since poor deliveries are rare. In that regard, Dravid was one of a kind as far as that particular attribute goes and over the course of his 16-year career, he was often the difference between a healthy score or a mediocre one as his top order batting often held the batting together.

Dravid did not go for extravagant strokes, although he was quite capable of doing so, and instead waited for the poor deliveries. With one end being secure, the famed stroke makers in the line up could play far more freely. Additionally, this ability also made the bowlers try different things and eventually loose balls would come along.

4 Dedication to process

It is often seen that when things don't go right, people reject their well-worn methods and try new things, which may or may not always work. More often than not, they might not and it is often the same with cricketers, who often try to change their technique or their processes if there is a slump in form.

Like many other great batsmen, Dravid also went through his tough periods when runs were hard to come by, but instead of trying to alter his technique or his batting style in Test cricket, he came back stronger through one minded belief in his own technique.

No great batsman can survive for long in the game if they do not have a lot of belief in their methods and instead of bringing about radical changes to his style due to adverse periods, he fine-tuned his batting style to suit the changing nature of the game over the years.

3 Ability to adapt

Rahul Dravid at the 1999 World Cup

When Rahul Dravid first came to the international scene, he was pigeonholed as a Test batsman and not thought to be good enough for one-day internationals. For good reason too, since he simply found it a bit difficult to force the pace in the earlier part of his career.

However, he worked it out three years into his career and forced his way into the Indian team with a superb show during New Zealand tour in 1998-99. Dravid was selected after he showed excellent form in the Test matches.

He never looked back; as in the 1999 World Cup he ended up as the highest run scorer and became one of India's finest one day batsmen with close to 11000 runs in the format.

That ability to mould his game according to the format of the game is a clear indication why Dravid is considered one of India's greatest ever batsmen and the ability to adapt to something that one finds difficult is surely a worthwhile lesson.

2 Teamwork

Unless one is engaged in certain niche professions, one has to be a team player to go far in a chosen trade, and it is quite true for anyone in team sports.

However, what separates Dravid from so many others is his innate quality of doing what is necessary for the team, despite having been one of the senior most players in the team for much of his career.

When the Indian team decided to play an extra batsman under Sourav Ganguly, it was Rahul Dravid who stepped up and donned the wicketkeeping gloves, while dropping down to number 5 to perform the role of the finisher.

Wicketkeeping is a tough job and the fact that Dravid took it up shows that he thought more about the collective. In addition to that, dropping down to number 5 also limited his opportunities to get the big hundreds, yet he became one of India's most important players as he became one of the best innings closers in the game during that period.

1 Knowing when to quit

There are some cricketers who have the luxury of calling time on their career when they see fit and it is highly unlikely that they will be pushed out by the selectors.

Rahul Dravid was certainly in that category, yet he called it a day when he realised that he might not be at his best and at a time when he could have continued for another year.

After all, he had been India's best batsman in the 2011 tour to England and scored 3 centuries. However, the 2011-12 tour of Australia was a poor one for him and instead of playing a few more tours, Dravid decided to call it a day.

This particular ability to walk away from what one loves is a trait that not many have, across professions and Dravid's decision to walk away without any drama is definitely one of the biggest lessons from his career.