Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has said that it is unfortunate that Rahul Dravid does not get due credit for his stint as captain of the country.
Dravid, who was Sourav Ganguly’s deputy for most of his career, led India in 25 Tests and 79 One-Day Internationals.
“I made my one-day debut under Sourav Ganguly and my Test debut under Rahul Dravid. It is so unfortunate that we do not give Rahul Dravid enough credit for his captaincy,” Gambhir is quoted as saying during Star Sports show Cricket Connected.
“We only talk about Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, now we talk about Virat Kohli, but Rahul Dravid has been a fabulous captain for India as well.”
Also read: The growing legacy of Rahul Sharad Dravid
It is worth noting that Dravid’s win/loss record in Tests and ODIs are both among the best in Indian cricket history.
Indian captains with best W/L ratio in Tests
| Captain | Mat | Won | Lost | Draw | W/L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kohli | 55 | 33 | 12 | 10 | 2.750 |
| Ganguly | 49 | 21 | 13 | 15 | 1.615 |
| Dhoni | 60 | 27 | 18 | 15 | 1.500 |
| Dravid | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 1.333 |
| Gavaskar | 47 | 9 | 8 | 30 | 1.125 |
Indian captains with best W/L ratio in ODIs
| Captain | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | W/L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kohli | 89 | 62 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 2.583 |
| Dhoni | 200 | 110 | 74 | 5 | 11 | 1.486 |
| Dravid | 79 | 42 | 33 | 0 | 4 | 1.272 |
| Azharuddin | 174 | 90 | 76 | 2 | 6 | 1.184 |
| Kapil Dev | 74 | 39 | 33 | 0 | 2 | 1.181 |
| Ganguly | 146 | 76 | 65 | 0 | 5 | 1.169 |
In his illustrious international career, Dravid scored 13288 runs in 164 Tests and 10889 runs in 344 ODIs. Post retirement, he was the head coach for the India under-19 and A teams from 2016 to 2019 and is currently the Director of Cricket Operations at National Cricket Academy, Bengaluru.
Gambhir said that Dravid’s record as a cricketer is underrated as well.
“Even his records, he’s probably the most under-rated cricketer and probably the most under-rated leader as well.
“We won in England, West Indies, we won some 14 or 15 games on the trot. If you look at Dravid as a cricketer, I think if you asked him to open the batting in Test cricket, he did, he batted at No 3, he kept wickets for India, he batted as a finisher, he did everything what Indian cricket asked him or what a captain asked him to do and that is the kind of role models you want,” Gambhir added.
Also read: How Dravid, the consummate team man, ‘kept’ his place in India’s ODI side
Gambhir, who was part of two World Champion sides in 2007 and 2011, hailed Dravid’s impact on Indian cricket as one of the most significant.
“Sourav Ganguly has always had a bigger impact in white-ball cricket because of his flamboyance, but Rahul Dravid overall, in Indian cricket, had a much bigger impact than probably anyone. You can actually match his impact to someone like Sachin Tendulkar as well because he played under the shadows of Tendulkar all his life, but yes, impact wise, probably the same.”
(Clarification: Article originally had “dot not” in the headline, it has now been corrected to “do not.”)