The European T20 Premier League (ETPL) sees India great Rahul Dravid in a never-seen-before avatar, as the coach of the Dublin Guardians franchise. Vikram Rathore, who is the coach of the franchise, is used to seeing Dravid as part of the support staff, having worked with him in the Indian team and the IPL, but it’s quite an experience for him to see the former India captain donning the owner’s hat. Rathore revealed that despite the fact that the Dublin franchise went five games without a win, Dravid has been thoroughly supportive.
“Rahul is behaving like an owner. I mean, he hasn’t been too involved. So, it’s been good. But I mean, as I said earlier, it is great to have somebody like him on the other side, because he spent enough time being a coach. So, he understands how the teams can go and how the results can go. So, he’s been very supportive through the initial phase of this tournament, where we haven’t won anything. We didn’t win any games out of the first five that we played. But he has been very supportive,” said Rathore during a virtual media roundtable.
“He’s been really good, which you expect from somebody like Rahul anyway,” he added.
The franchise is led by Ravichandran Ashwin, a modern-day cricket great, who is no longer involved in mainstream cricket. Rathore revealed that it’s mostly Ashwin who has been taking up the responsibility of day-to-day cricketing affairs, be it strategies against opponents, selection or other matters. Dravid, despite being the owner, hasn’t intervened in such decision-making.
“As far as Ashwin is concerned, obviously, he has great knowledge of cricket, of cricketers. He’s basically almost a cricket fanatic, I call him. He watches so much cricket, and he has so much knowledge of players from all around the world. That is like phenomenal,” said Rathore.
The other side of “The Wall”
Rahul Dravid talks us through his duties as co-owner of Dublin Guardians!
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The former India batting coach also admitted that his job has become easier because of Ashwin’s presence in the team.
“It surprises you, actually, at times, how much he knows about these conditions and these players. So, again, a great help to have somebody like him around. Because, like I said earlier, my time has been spent in Indian cricket mostly. So, for me, it was something very new and very different. But having somebody like Ashwin around has really helped,” he added.
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