Back in 2007, when India lifted the T20 World Cup in South Africa, it was sans the presence of top batsmen like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. MS Dhoni took a young team to the victory.
Talking about the triumph, former India manager Lalchand Rajput revealed that it was Dravid’s suggestion that the troika should not be part of the World Cup, to give youngsters a chance.
In an interaction with Sportskeeda, Rajput revealed, “Yes, it is true (Rahul Dravid asking Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to skip 2007 T20 World Cup). Rahul Dravid was the captain in England and some players came directly from England to Johannesburg (for the T20 World Cup) so they said let’s give an opportunity to the youngsters."
Rajput also thought that the seniors might have repented, not playing in the event. “Sachin always kept on telling me that I am playing for so many years and I have still not won the World Cup."
Talking about Dhoni’s captaincy, he went on to say, that the former was a blend of Ganguly and Dravid.
In the final of the tournament, India beat arch-rivals Pakistan to lift the trophy. Youngsters like S Srresanth, RP Singh, Joginder Sharma, did well throughout the tournament to take India to the title.
Earlier, former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir had high praise for his teammate Rahul Dravid and said that his impact on Indian cricket was far greater than even a Sourav Ganguly, even as a captain. Gambhir believes it was Dravid’s ability to do whatever was asked off him by the management that helped him.
Gambhir said, “I made my one-day debut under Sourav Ganguly and my Test debut under Rahul Dravid. It is so unfortunate that we do not give Rahul Dravid enough credit for his captaincy. We only talk about Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, now we talk about Virat Kohli, but Rahul Dravid has been a fabulous captain for India as well. Even his records, he’s probably the most under-rated cricketer and probably the most under-rated leader as well. We won in England, West Indies, we won some 14 or 15 games on the trot.”