Rahul Dravid on aggression and Virat Kohli

Brut India

In 2017, Rahul Dravid spoke about Virat Kohli and aggression in modern-day cricket. Dravid, head coach of the Indian men's cricket team, turned 50 today.  : Bangalore Literature Festival

Transcript

00:00I think aggression, the game is still about performance.

00:02Let's not take that away from say someone like Virat Kohli.

00:05Just because, you know, he's in your face.

00:07I would have been inauthentic to myself if I had tried to put tattoos and behave like Virat.

00:12I hate to use the word that the players of an earlier generation were not, you know,

00:16were not aggressive or were not mentally tough because I don't believe that.

00:19I think aggression, the game is still about performance.

00:32I think the game is still about performance.

00:34And let's not take that away from say someone like Virat Kohli.

00:37Just because, you know, he's in your face.

00:39And that's his personality.

00:41You know, that's what gets the best out of Virat.

00:44People have asked me, OK, why didn't you behave like that?

00:45But actually, that's what got the best out of me.

00:47I would have been inauthentic to myself if I had tried to put tattoos and behave like Virat.

00:51You know, in the end, I think one of the important things is to be authentic to who you are.

00:57If that is who Virat is and that's what gets the best out of him.

01:00So, for example, you know, like I'm always quite sometimes amazed, you know,

01:03especially before an Australian series, you'll find Virat saying the most outrageous thing.

01:07And I like read the paper and cringe at times.

01:09But then I think back that maybe he actually wants that contest.

01:13He wants that little bit of lip on the field because that gets the best out of himself.

01:16Now, that might not be everyone's cup of tea,

01:19but in the end of the day, he's got to do what gets the best out of him.

01:22I think being authentic to yourself is very, very important.

01:24And if, you know, Virat, in the end of the day, if that's getting the best out of him,

01:28if, you know, engaging in a contest and sometimes needling the opposition is getting the best out of himself.

01:32And it certainly is because his level of performance is, well, second to none.

01:36If in fact, better than anyone, you know, we can see in the world today, then so be it.

01:42What worries me a little bit, though, and I think what worries me is that a lot of that

01:46gets translated into junior cricket.

01:49You know, I think that's the scary thing for me.

01:51It's not so much what Virat does, but I think what tends to happen is,

01:54is that a lot of young kids at 12, 13, 14 tend to copy what's it.

01:58And they try and become the next Virat Kohli, not realizing that maybe that's not authentic to who they are.

02:04And I think trying to just be authentic to who you are is the most important thing.

02:08There's a certain level of confidence and a belief in Indian cricket today,

02:11which has come about, you know, through results.

02:15And I think that's definitely evident today than, say, from the time that I started and I played.

02:20You know, everything for us was, you know, when you went abroad on a tour,

02:24and I remember, I won't mention his name, I was sitting on a flight with someone.

02:28I was really excited. I'm going on one of my early tours and saying, you know,

02:31it'd be great if we can, you know, look to win the series here.

02:36And I got was, we'll be lucky if we win one test match,

02:38and let's hope we can manage to win one and draw the rest or something like that.

02:41Or let's draw all the games.

02:43You can imagine an Indian team going out today and drawing all the test matches overseas.

02:46And it'll not be hailed as a success. People expect India now to win.

02:50I think there's a certain expectation level that has changed.

02:53And that has come about also with results, with performances.

02:56I think there is a certain, I hate to use the word, that the players of an earlier generation

03:00were not, you know, were not aggressive or were not mentally tough, because I don't believe that.

03:04You know, there's a little bit of in-your-face aggression a little bit more

03:08that's been brought about a lot also by, you know, they are in your face all the time.

03:12I mean, through television and Twitter and all this, they are in your face.

03:16I mean, the reality is that.

03:17So, you know, it comes out a little bit more.

03:22I think it comes out a little bit more now than it does in the past.

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