NEW DELHI: Enjoying his time off the game after guiding Team India to T20 World Cup triumph, former head coach Rahul Dravid was spotted watching the Tamil Nadu Premier League 2024 final between Lyca Kovai Kings and Dindigul Dragons at MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk) in Chennai on Sunday.
The official X handle of TNPL shared a video of Dravid talking to a presenter on the sidelines of the match.
On being welcomed to Chepauk and congratulated by the presenter on bringing the trophy home, Dravid said, “Thank you so much. Thanks a lot. It’s just lovely to be back here at Chepauk. This is a ground I have so many fond memories of, so it’s great to be here.”
On being asked by the presenter of his fondest of memories at Chepauk, Dravid replied, “Playing league cricket here would be the fondest, because I played with friends, really enjoyed myself playing league cricket here and ofcourse, some Test matches I got my 10000th run in Test cricket here at this ground. Played some fantastic Test matches against Australia, against England. Lots of matches come mind, winning the World Cup game against Australia, so there are a lot of things that come to my mind at this ground.”
On being asked about his association with Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, “I loved playing my league cricket here for India Cements. I came here as a young man of 21, played 3-4 years of league cricket here and then played for India but I kept coming back to play league cricket and really learnt a lot and really enjoyed my time here, it was tough cricket, it was hard cricket but learnt a lot. I grew a lot as a cricketer during that time just before playing for India and it made a big difference.”
On his thoughts about TNPL, Dravid said, “These leagues like TNPL, KPL, have been terrific as they provide a lot of great opportunities to so many young people, look at this kind of crowd, for these young boys to be able play in front of this crowd I think it’s just phenomenal and it really gives them a great boost, so well done to the TNCA for organizing this and doing this in such a spectacular fashion and it’s great to see some young players playing but it’s also great to see the old veteran Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin) still contributing and still winning games for his team.”
The official X handle of TNPL shared a video of Dravid talking to a presenter on the sidelines of the match.
On being welcomed to Chepauk and congratulated by the presenter on bringing the trophy home, Dravid said, “Thank you so much. Thanks a lot. It’s just lovely to be back here at Chepauk. This is a ground I have so many fond memories of, so it’s great to be here.”
On being asked by the presenter of his fondest of memories at Chepauk, Dravid replied, “Playing league cricket here would be the fondest, because I played with friends, really enjoyed myself playing league cricket here and ofcourse, some Test matches I got my 10000th run in Test cricket here at this ground. Played some fantastic Test matches against Australia, against England. Lots of matches come mind, winning the World Cup game against Australia, so there are a lot of things that come to my mind at this ground.”
On being asked about his association with Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, “I loved playing my league cricket here for India Cements. I came here as a young man of 21, played 3-4 years of league cricket here and then played for India but I kept coming back to play league cricket and really learnt a lot and really enjoyed my time here, it was tough cricket, it was hard cricket but learnt a lot. I grew a lot as a cricketer during that time just before playing for India and it made a big difference.”
On his thoughts about TNPL, Dravid said, “These leagues like TNPL, KPL, have been terrific as they provide a lot of great opportunities to so many young people, look at this kind of crowd, for these young boys to be able play in front of this crowd I think it’s just phenomenal and it really gives them a great boost, so well done to the TNCA for organizing this and doing this in such a spectacular fashion and it’s great to see some young players playing but it’s also great to see the old veteran Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin) still contributing and still winning games for his team.”
Dravid later handed over the TNPL trophy to Ashwin whose team Dindigul Dragons won the final by defeating Lyca Kovai Kings by 6 wickets.
Dravid ended his tenure guiding India to the T20 World Cup title victory in June. Under Dravid, India also made the finals of the World Test Championship and the 50-overs home World Cup last year.