Former Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has offered a counter-argument to his successor Gautam Gambhir’s ‘anti-superstar’ dressing room philosophy. While Gambhir emphasizes a ‘team first’ approach, Dravid asserts that sports need heroes and individual brilliance, born from performance, is crucial for a team’s success and inspiring a nation.
Former Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has disagreed with his successor Gautam Gambhir’s stand on anti-superstar in the dressing room. Gambhir, who took over coaching duties in June last year, has frequently emphasized a ‘team first’ philosophy that shifts the spotlight away from individual achievements.
Gautam Gambhir, who played alongside some of the superstars, including Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and MS Dhoni, has long maintained that the ‘hero-worship’ prevalent in Indian cricket often undermines collective effort. The former India opener’s emphasis on team effort rather than individual achievements has become a cornerstone of his coaching tenure.
With the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma stepping away from the T20Is and Tests, Gambhir seemingly sees this transition as the perfect opportunity to dismantle the superstar culture once and for all.
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‘Any Sport Needs Its Heroes’
As Gautam Gambhir’s ‘anti-superstar’ dressing room culture begins to take root, Rahul Dravid has offered a compelling counter-argument, stating that individual brilliance is the primary fuel for a team’s success and that heroes are an essential part of any sport’s ability to inspire a nation.
“Any sport needs its heroes, and I don’t think people become heroes without performances. You can’t capture the imagination of a nation if you don’t deliver on the field, especially in India, where you get a lot of praise for what you do, but also a lot of brickbats,” Dravid said on Wisden Cricket Scoop Extended Podcast
“There’s a lot of scrutiny and constant focus on you. So to become a legend or a superstar in India means you’ve done a lot of things right, and in the process, you’ve also helped your team win,” he added.
During his 16-year illustrious international career, Rahul Dravid played alongside Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, and Zaheer Khan, forming a core of icons who proved that individual excellence and team glory often go hand in hand.
As a coach, Dravid worked with the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravichandran Ashwin, guiding them through a golden period that culminated in the 2024 T20 World Cup title.
‘Not Easy to Replace Kohli, Rohit, Ashwin’
Rahul Dravid also spoke about Team India’s Test performance under Gautam Gambhir, acknowledging that while the white-ball side has flourished with silverware, the Test unit has faced a significantly steeper uphill climb. He also admitted that the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and R Ashwin have left a massive void in the squad that cannot be filled overnight.
“The passion to do well in red-ball cricket is definitely there. We’ve had a couple of series where we haven’t performed as well as an Indian team, and that can happen. We are also missing a few key players, with some of the big names having recently retired, Rohit, Virat, and Ashwin, and it is not easy to replace players like that,” the former India captain.
“But Indian cricket remains very strong. I still believe the Indian team will be competitive in every format it plays. It may take a little time, but hopefully this season we will be able to turn things around,” he added.
Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma retired from Tests within a span of six months, marking the definitive end of an era for the Indian Test side. Following the retirement of these stalwarts, Team India entered a transition, with Shubman Gill taking over the captaincy duties in red-ball cricket.
The departures of Ashwin, Kohli, and Rohit significantly altered the squad’s dynamics. Under the captain-coach duo of Shubman Gill and Gautam Gambhir, India drew the five-Test series 2-2 against England, whitewashed the West Indies 2-0 at home, and were themselves whitewashed by South Africa 0-2.
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