Coach Raghavan Arvind turns player for Dindigul Dragons

Raghavan Aravind played 17 years of professional cricket, however, fate had something else in store for the Karnataka-born cricketer. Persistent back injuries forced him out of the game in 2015. He underwent coaching courses in Australia and then was appointed as a High-Performance coach at Ravichandran Ashwin’s Gen Next Cricket Academy.

The draft for the 2018 Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) was conducted yesterday and Raghavan has been drafted in as a player by the Dindigul Dragons. Recently, the 31-year old opened up about the difficulties he had to face when he was out of cricket. He also mentioned that his mental state wasn’t at the greatest and how it became a detriment to his day-to-day life.

Raghavan’s depressive times  

“It was difficult not to play cricket. Though every aspect, be it playing or coaching, is the same to me, it was a hard decision to decide to not to play cricket professionally. I underwent depression, I wasn’t stable and it was affecting my lifestyle, health. I was going through a tough time,” Raghavan was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.

Raghavan also talked about how youngsters considered him unfit for the massive tournament. Nevertheless, instead of letting the words demoralise him, he made a strong comeback and will now ply his trade beside stalwarts like Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik and other big personalities.

“Some of the 18-19-year-old kids told me that it is not possible for them to reach the level required for TNPL. I would tell them that if you have the fire in you and if you train properly, you can do it. So I wanted to set an example for them and lead the way myself,” he added.

The Dragons didn’t have an auspicious outing last time around. They could win only two out of their seven matches and finished sixth in the league table. They will be led by Ashwin and has players of the calibre of N Jagadeesan, who was a part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL).

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