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Rahul Dravid explains how Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma played a role in his decision to retire from Indian cricket in 2012.
Rahul Dravid has explained his retirement call (PTI Photo)
Rahul Dravid has revealed the number of factors that played a role in his decision to retire in 2012, including his declining fielding prowess, India’s on-field results, and the emergence of the next generation of batters, including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane.
One of India’s greatest batters and fielders, Dravid retired with over 24,000 international runs. He last played a Test match for India against Australia in Adelaide in 2012, in a series that the visitors were whitewashed 4-0. Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin asked him about the thought process behind the call on his YouTube show Kutti Stories, and Dravid revealed that Ashwin indirectly played a role, too.
“Yes, [it was] when I dropped the catch off your bowling of Michael Hussey at the MCG,” Dravid said in the video. “It was one of the easiest catches I have ever dropped in my life. There are a lot of things in my career that I don’t remember but I can still remember dropping those catches. I don’t think that was the moment but I still think, you just know, right. I think I just knew at that stage that it was time to move on.”
Dravid added that he was convinced that he was done with international cricket but wanted to make sure it wasn’t an emotional decision. Hence, he went back home to spend some time with the family.
“So, I actually went home, spent 2-3 weeks with the family, and I realised that I didn’t want to go back and play,” he added.
It didn’t take time for Pujara, who had already been deputising for Dravid whenever he was unavailable with injuries, to slot in at number three, while Kohli and Rahane were emerging as strong middle-order batters. Kohli even got his first Test century at Adelaide in that Australia series. Rohit was making his name in white-ball cricket.
“I could see a lot of young players coming through,” Dravid said. “People like Virat and Rohit were coming. Virat just had a great series. Rohit hadn’t played a Test match in that series. Puji had gotten some runs but was coming back from an ACL injury. Rahane was doing really well. There were 4-5 guys coming through, and I could see that clearly that they were going to be the next generation of young Indian cricketers. I felt I had done my time, felt played as much as I could, and taken the team as far as I could. Obviously losing 0-4 in England and Australia doesn’t help either. Then you think as a senior player if you aren’t being able to make a contribution there, then you kind of think it’s time to move on,” Dravid said.
A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses, features, live scores, results, stats and everything that’s cricket from all over the globe. Follow @cricketnext
A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses, features, live scores, results, stats and everything that’s cricket from all over the globe. Follow @cricketnext
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