'You can even approach him at 2 AM at night with a problem' - Irfan Pathan heaps praise on Rahul Dravid's captaincy

If someone is asked about the greatest captains of the Indian team, generally they take the names of Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni or maybe Sourav Ganguly. It is very rare that someone praises Rahul Dravid for his excellence as a captain. Under his captaincy, India has won a Test in Pakistan, an ODI series in Pakistan, a Test in South Africa and Test series in England and West Indies.

There was a time when Dravid captained India to 17 straight ODI wins while chasing. Other than this, he captained 79 ODIs matches out of which India won 42. In 25 Tests as a captain, he helped India win eight. In a recent interaction, Irfan Pathan highlighted the brilliance of Rahul Dravid as a captain.

In an Instagram Live video chat show ‘Beyond the Field’ with ESPNCricinfo presenter Raunak Kapoor, Pathan described Dravid’s captaincy talents. “Dravid was 100 per cent a great captain. He was very clear on whatever he wanted from the team,” Pathan said. He also said that Dravid was, “Most, most, most underrated cricketer in the world.”

The former Indian all-rounder was one of the core members of Dravid’s team. The Karnataka batsman had taken over the captaincy of the Indian team after Sourav Ganguly was sacked. He led India between 2005 and 2007.

Rahul Dravid was one captain who thought differently: Irfan Pathan

“Every captain has their way – there are captains who thinks differently, and Rahul Dravid was also one captain who thought differently, but he was very clear in his communication. He would tell ‘this is your role and you have to work accordingly’,” Pathan revealed.

The former Indian all-rounder, later on, pointed out talked about the versatility possessed by Dravid. He recounted the achievements of the great Indian batsman in ODI cricket. It is true that the ex-Indian captain doesn’t always get the credits for playing for such a long time and performing consistently in both ODI and Tests.

“He wanted you to do everything. He has played cricket like that as well. He has donned the wicketkeeper’s gloves, he was ready to open, he was ready to bat at No. 3. People would say he is not a great ODI cricketer, but he has scored 10,000+ runs in 50 overs cricket as well. He was such a great team’s player. His style of captaincy was also for the team,” Pathan added.

Pathan described how the persona of Dravid helped each and every player in his team. He explained that as a captain, he was always available for his players and his communications with his players were always great.

“Whenever there was a problem, he was always there. Sometimes it gets difficult to communicate with a captain because they are always surrounded by things. But Dravid was one such captain, that you can even approach him at 2 AM at night with a problem. A captain’s role is to keep communication with all the players, and he did that,” Pathan further said.

Dravid stood down from captaincy after MS Dhoni led the Indian team to a win in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.