"You want to earn that…"- Rahul Dravid reveals he wanted to earn respect from Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly in his early career

Rahul Dravid played for India from 1996 to 2012.

Former India captain Rahul Dravid has revealed that he wanted to earn respect from Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman during his early days in international cricket. He also added that he learned a lot from the legends like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, and Sehwag during his career.

Dravid, who is rated as a legend of Indian cricket, had a long career from 1996 to 2012, in which he played 164 tests, 344 ODIs, and 1 T20I. With 13,288 runs in tests, he is the second-highest run-scorer for India.

Dravid amassed 10,899 runs in ODIs with 12 centuries. He retired from international cricket in 2012. With over 24,000 runs across formats, Dravid is also the third-highest run-scorer for India.

You want to earn Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly’s respect: Rahul Dravid

Dravid recently appeared on the podcast show “Haal Chaal Aur Sawaal”. Speaking on the show, he said that he wanted to earn the respect of legends like Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly in his early career.

“You want to earn Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly’s respect. You want them to say ‘ok, this guy can also play. He deserves to be in this room with me’. You want to earn that, and that comes with performance and doing things. That comes with putting runs on the board and playing in difficult conditions or situations,” he said.

Dravid also reckoned that he learnt a lot of skills from players like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, and Sehwag.

“I don’t think I was copying them, but certainly learning things from them as well, not only Laxman. It made my game a better game, sharing the dressing room and partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, VVS and even Gautam Gambhir for a while”, he said.

“You are learning from these guys, watching them prepare, play certain shots and how they go about doing certain things. And you are picking up stuff. You are being challenged and pushed by them,” he added.

Notably, Dravid was the head coach of the Indian Cricket Team from 2021 to 2024. He guided the team to the ICC title after 11 years during the T20 World Cup 2024. He also held a successful stint as a coach, leading India to the title in the Asia Cup 2023 and runners-up in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

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