Rahul Dravid hails Virat Kohli's mental strength

CHENNAI: The comparison between Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara has been made increasingly often in recent days after the latter’s brilliant innings in the first Test against Australia at Adelaide. 

Pujara scored a hundred when India’s batting line-up fumbled in the first innings and then he followed it up with a 71 to turn the match in India’s favour. India are on the cusp of winning the Boxing Day Test, courtesy Pujara’s hundred again. 

Trying to draw a parallel, Ian Chappell recently said Pujara “isn’t quite the snug-fitting Armani suit that Dravid was at No. 3, but he’s cut from the same cloth.”

But does the ‘original wall’ see a bit of himself in Pujara? “I don’t like comparisons, as each one is different,” said Dravid before quickly adding that Pujara has been brilliant against the Aussies. 

“If India go on to win the Melbourne Test, Pujara would have played two match-winning knocks in two Test matches that we won. Not only in this series, if you look through his career as well, a lot of his innings have come at a crucial time. India have rallied around him in Australia. He wasn’t picked for the first Test in England and it’s been a great comeback since then. It’s terrific,” added Dravid.

Heaping praise on Virat Kohli, Dravid said the India skipper is mentally tougher than everyone else. 

“Virat has as much skills as a lot of other people, but he is mentally tougher than everyone else. He knows his game better than everyone else. There is a lot more to success in cricket than skills. At the top, people who stand out are the people who handle pressure better,” he added.

Dravid said India should be happy to have a fantastic bowling attack now, but the most important aspect is to keep the supply chain going. 

“We can’t afford to relax. We have to keep working on it. We should realise that we always going to need good fast bowlers for us to be competitive. If you start a Test match knowing that your attack is capable of taking 20 wickets it gives you a huge fillip. The current bowling attack is a good template for us to know that we always need to have this quality to be a competitive Test side. Our bench strength is good. We have Mohd Siraj who is performing well at A level. Navdeep Saini has done well too. It’s nice to see Varun Aaron taking wickets in the domestic scene again,” he added.

A lot of players from India ‘A’ had to wait in the wings to get a breakthrough in senior team. As India ‘A’ coach, Dravid has a tough job in keeping the players motivated. 

“I have been in that position before. Even when you perform, sometimes you don’t get a break. That’s the nature of the sport. Players have to keep learning and pushing the door. As they say, you need a bit of luck and destiny as well,” he said.