Former India coach Rahul Dravid hailed Rohit Sharma for leading by example and transforming the team’s mindset, ushering in a fearless and attacking style of cricket that redefined India’s approach in white-ball cricket. The Dravid-Rohit duo worked wonders for them in 2023 and 2024 as India reached the finals of the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup while winning the latter to end their partnership on a high.
Rohit took the initiative to lead by example, adopting an unselfish approach and providing explosive starts in both ICC tournaments. His fearless intent inspired the rest of the team, setting the tone for India’s dominance in white-ball cricket ever since.
Dravid credited Rohit for transforming India’s white-ball cricket mindset, revealing how their shared vision to adopt a fearless and attacking approach has redefined the team’s style of play and even influenced the global perception of T20 cricket over the past couple of years.
“From the time I came in, a lot of the discussion with Rohit around was that we wanted to play a more aggressive brand of cricket. And we tried we started right from the beginning because that we could see that that’s the way the game was evolving and Rohit deserves a lot of credit for it. To move the team in a particular direction. Play the game in a lot more aggressive and a lot more positive manner and I’m glad that we’ve sort of kept going in that direction to the point where I think India’s kind of changing what T20 cricket is like,” he said on ‘Breakfast with Champions’.
The former India coach further opened up on one of the toughest aspects of coaching — handling player communication — admitting that explaining selection calls or omissions can often be challenging, especially when multiple players are equally talented and deserving, making every decision a delicate balance of honesty and empathy.
“I think the challenge is communicating to people when they’re not picked in teams or why you have to drop certain people or why it’s a combination you’re playing. Not all of them will agree with you at times. And that’s and that’s part of the job, right? Because you sometimes don’t even have good enough explanations to people as to why they are not picked and you know, because they might be good enough. And it’s just that somebody else happens to be equally good enough,” he said.
