The hurting Indian team needs its 3 a.m. captain Rohit Sharma, and coach Rahul Dravid to continue

It helped that the leadership group included coach Rahul Dravid. During his stint as India captain, Dravid had learnt a tough lesson: Avoid being a Greg Chappell — an authoritarian and dictatorial coach. As junior coach, he would be conscious of the impact of setbacks on young minds.

During the World Cup, Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik, on A Sports’ The Pavilion show, shared a Dravid story from the time they were both with Under-19 teams of their respective countries. Once the two teams were on a long flight and Malik was catching sleep. “Dravid waited for me to wake up, he wanted to know about my comebacks and struggles. He wanted to share my experience with the boys,” Malik recalled.

Vastly different as batsmen but equally compassionate leaders — Rohit and Dravid — share some common story threads. Despite their once-in-a-generation batting skills, Dravid and Rohit were not hailed as India’s No.1 players, as their teams had Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli respectively. They were never God or King, they went by more earthy names – Mr Dependable, Hit-Man.

Ahmedabad: Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Heach Coach Rahul Dravid after India lost the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 final to Australia, at the Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023. (PTI Photo/Gurinder Osan)

Since both had unfilled dreams — neither had a World Cup on their CV — as captain and coach they are better placed to understand those dealing with failures, insecurities and Cuplessness.

Rohit is said to be a patient listener. He has a natural care-free vibe that can make even strangers share their secrets with him. To watch this Rohit trait, go back to an Instagram session he did with Shami during the lockdown.

What had started as a fun interaction between two bored teammates sitting at home had turned into a serious catharsis session. In the around 40-minute interaction, at around the 10- minute mark, the two are joking about Yuzvendra Chahal, who joined them on chat. But five minutes later, the mood changes.

Shami was now talking about the time he had hit rock bottom and his inner dark thoughts. The pacer talks about his 18-month injury layoff, the monotony of rehab, his family problems, media scrutiny and the road accident before an IPL season.

Patient listener

Rohit lends a sympathetic ear, doesn’t interrupt. Shami wants to talk. The pacer from Amroha says that during those depressing times, he even contemplated suicide three times.

Rohit is caught off-guard. “Arre baap re, yeh toh kisi ko nahi pata tha (Oh God, no one knows about this).” But he doesn’t probe further. Realising Shami doesn’t want to speak more, he moves to other topics.

Ahmedabad: India’s Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 final match between India and Australia, at the Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023. (PTI Photo/ Manvender Vashist Lav)

Shreyas’s journey too has been tough. Before the last World Cup in 2019, in an interview with this newspaper, the Mumbai batsman had spoke about his emotional upheavals.

Back then, Shreyas had been scoring heavily on the domestic circuit but wasn’t likely to be picked for the World Cup.

“Body is completely tired, I am fatigued mentally. But no one is going to say ‘take rest’, no one cares,” he says. “There is no break. We are not machines. I am out of home for 300 days … I have become emotionless.”

It was a cry for help from an overworked, drained-out professional cricketer somehow managing to hang in. It was his will to play for India that saw him clutch onto straws and avoid a freefall.

His struggles didn’t end even after he became India’s all-format player. A series of untimely injuries would again peg him back. While the 2023 World Cup squad was being finalised, he faced question marks. His fitness was dodgy. Some even said that his temperament was suspect.

But Rohit and Dravid were sure about Shreyas, they backed him. Less than a month before the World Cup, Shreyas missed two Asia Cup games because of a post-injury niggle.

The team management was ready to wait for him, give him a long rope.

The KL Rahul story is similar. His form slump was amplified by the memes that infest timelines of cricket followers. But it didn’t matter. For the team management, Rahul remained their chosen Man Friday – No.5 batsman, wicketkeeper, Rohit’s sounding board and reliable DRS decision-maker.

Bumrah, too, was a victim of the toxic troll army. Always fit for IPL, never for Team India, the vile professional hecklers of the virtual world would bark.

Bumrah’s return after the long injury layoff was timed perfectly. The team management had ensured that he remained in the best of spirits when away from the game.

Then there is Kuldeep Yadav, the wrist-spinner who once during IPL broke down after going for a lot of runs. Few years back, his career was going nowhere.

Under the last regime, there were whispers that he was out of favour because of non-cricketing reasons. The World Cup saw the sidelined spinner get centrestage. He was no longer the shy under-confident boy from Kanpur. This World Cup, he smiled, flighted the ball and developed a reputation as the world’s premier white-ball spinner.

In a highly-competitive ecosystem like Indian cricket, where every spot in the playing XI has many contenders, players need a captain with a heart. It helps to be a leader with first-hand experience of dealing with epic struggles. Can just one loss, after 10 wins, undermine the leadership and culture of an inspired team?

Finally, India at the World Cup had a crack outfit where every player knew his role, was well prepared and armed to the teeth. Dravid and Rohit should continue. As reported, a franchise might have second thoughts about Rohit the captain, but that’s IPL where business and sports overlap.

A hurting Indian team, that seems to be close to a new dawn, needs 3 am leaders.

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