When hotel guests complained about weird noises coming from Rahul Dravid's room
Mumbai: Former India skipper Rahul Dravid’s sheer dedication and commitment to the sport and at the crease was unparalleled. Dravid was known for respecting his opponents and hardly was seen complaining about conditions throughout his career for India.
Watch: When a girl from Hyderabad wanted to live with Rahul Dravid
But behind every success story comes an interesting tale attached to it.
During a chat with cricket humourist Vikram Sathaye on the show ‘What The Duck, Dravid revealed that once people complained about weird noises coming from his hotel room.
“Are you aware of the fact that hotel guests used to complain, people who were specially living next to your room that weird noises would come out of Rahul Dravid’s room because there was actually a net practice happening there the night before?” Sathaye said with a laugh.
Dravid’s reply was a modest one. “No, I mean, I wasn’t. I like to carry the bat in my room and just sometimes, pick up the bat and get a feel of what it felt like in my hand and so when you are tapping the ground and sometimes you know, the people below you the floor, sometimes you get the odd calls and saying ‘can you stop that’.”
Read: Rahul Dravid, not Anil Kumble was BCCI’s first choice as India head coach
“I mean, I know I gave impression of being and I was being intense.”
Sathaye then came up with another fascinating story related to Dravid’s night practice. “Vijeta (Rahul Dravid’s wife) said that early in your marriage she thought you were sleep walking.”
The current Indian U-19 coach dolled out the entire story.
“No, I mean it happens. So sometimes you can’t get sleep and you swing the bat or you just know sort of practicing a drill. I think a lot of batsman will do that. You used to drill your technique in front of a mirror, so you know practicing, sort of shadow practicing and it just becomes the habit and it’s almost a comfort feeling I think. It’s just a little bit of a comfort feeling when you feel nervous and pick up your bat and shadow practice and imagine you self smashing the bowlers all over the ground.”
