'I was never going to be like Virender Sehwag' - Rahul Dravid on how both batters had different paths to success

Former India batter and current head coach Rahul Dravid has talked about managing his mental energy which had helped him to represent India for a long period. The veteran batter made his debut in 1996 and went on to amass 13288 and 10889 runs in Tests and ODIs respectively.

The Indian head coach has opened up about how he used to spend a lot of energy even when he was not playing and switching off from the game helped him mentally. Dravid also emphasized the fact that he could never be someone like Virender Sehwag who found it much easier to switch off from because of his personality.

I needed to refresh and almost find a life outside of cricket: Rahul Dravid

Speaking to India’s Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra in a podcast, Dravid said, “If I look back on my career, that..managing my energy, more of my mental energy was the real game-changer in terms of longevity in my career and terms of performance. I used to expend a lot of energy, even when I was not playing, thinking about my game, maybe reflecting on it, or worrying about it. In time I kind of learned that was not necessarily actually not helping my sport or helping me play better. I needed to refresh and almost find a life outside of cricket.”

“I was still always never going to be like Viru (Virender Sehwag), who found it much easier to switch off because of his personality outside of the game. I was never going to get to that level. But certainly, I started recognizing the red flags. I knew I needed to find a way to switch it off but it was the mental side of the thing that you need to help yourself. It came down to you recognizing that this was as important to you as those extra hours in the gym and practice sessions,” the Indian head coach added.

At present, Dravid is with the Indian team taking on West Indies in an ODI series. The Men in Blue have already clinched the 50-over series and will l0ok to complete a white-wash in the third and final match to be played on July 27 (Wednesday). After that, Team India will face the home team in a T20I series.