“We don’t want to be sitting at home” – Rahul Dravid credits World Cup-winning captain for career advice after retirement

Former India head coach Rahul Dravid has expressed his gratitude to 1983 World Cup-winning Kapil Dev for his career advice following his retirement from international cricket. The 52-year-old said that the legendary all-rounder asked him to try different things before taking a final call. He added that his captain-cum-coach role at IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) helped him learn about the coaching stuff.

Notably, Dravid is rated one of the most successful coaches in the cricketing sphere. He led India to the 2024 T20 World Cup trophy. Under his coaching, the Men in Blue reached the 2023 World Cup and the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) finals. At the junior level, he guided India to victory in the 2016 and 2018 U19 World Cups.

On Thursday, August 21, Rahul Dravid told Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel (via Kutti Stories):

“Kapil Dev gave me an advice. I was just finishing my career, and I happened to bump into him somewhere, and we were having a conversation. And Kapil paaji said, ‘Rahul, don’t make a decision on what you want to do straightaway.'

"As you get close to the end, you think, Oh, what next? What should I do? It’s natural just the way we are. We don’t want to be sitting at home; you want to be contributing, you want to be doing things. And he said, ‘Don’t commit to something unless you are very sure. Experience a lot of different things for a few years and then see what it is that you really like.’”

He continued:

“And I was actually quite lucky because I was playing for Rajasthan at that point of time, and at that time, Shane Warne left. In the second and third years of my career with Rajasthan Royals, I was actually playing the role of a coach-captain. That was a kind of system at the Rajasthan Royals in those days. You didn’t really appoint a coach, so to speak, and Warne led the team and sort of did a lot of the things around it, and I sort of just continued in that over the next couple of years."

"Of course, I had support people around me. I involved Paddy in the system; Zubin was always around. Monty was there, I think, in those days. But a lot of it fell on you as a captain. You kind of had to lead, you had to do the auction, you had to understand the dynamics of the finances,” Dravid added.

“I was lucky” – Rahul Dravid on his captain-cum-coach role at RR in IPL

Rahul Dravid reiterated that his captain-cum-coach role at RR was a blessing in disguise for his future. The former India captain added that he took 2-3 years before finally opting to don the coaching hat. He said in the same video:

“In a lot of ways, I was lucky that I got that opportunity at the back end of my career to get involved in a lot of these things. It sort of gave me an inkling for two months as to what coaching and working with young players was like. And then the rest of the time I was doing sort of commentary or other corporate speaking, or I was doing some sponsorship work that I was involved in.”

“For like, 2-3 years, I got to choose and did quite a few different things. I realized that till I was fit. Obviously, coaching is again something that you have to be fit for, and it’s not something you can keep doing forever. It was the thing that I enjoyed the most. I definitely enjoyed coaching and working with people, and engaging in interesting conversations and growing and learning from those was something that I really enjoyed,” Dravid added.

Rahul Dravid is currently RR’s head coach in the IPL. He rejoined the Jaipur-based franchise following his stint with the national team.