Former India captain and current coach of India A and India U-19 Rahul Dravid said he cringes on reading Team India skipper Virat Kohli’s statements before a series.
‘The Wall’ of cricket also said the unceremonious departure of former head coach Anil Kumble was “unfortunate”.
"Virat sometimes comes across as outrageous and I cringe on reading his statements before a series. But if he can bring the best out of himself by needling the opposition, so be it," Dravid said.
Speaking at the Bangalore Literature Festival on Sunday, Dravid, said matches can be won even by players who don't sport tattoo on their sleeves. And on-field macho, rock star image would be of little help to be on a winning streak, reports The Times of India.
Dravid was in conversation with journalists Prem Panicker and Rajdeep Sardesai at the session titled 'Indian Democracy XI', an allusion to Sardesai's book on 11 legendary cricketers, the report adds.
When asked by Sardesai on how he would defend the likes of Virat and MS Dhoni becoming more powerful than the game and deciding on coaches, Dravid replied: "It is unfortunate for a legend who was part of the highest number of winning Indian teams to see unceremonious departure. At the same time, it is quite common that coaches always get sacked. I also am the Under-19 Indian team coach. I may also be sacked."
On Sunday, Kohli became the sixth Indian to complete 9000 ODI runs during the series-deciding third game against New Zealand in Kanpur.
Kohli got to the landmark in the 37th over when he guided one off Grandhomme towards the third man for a four.
Dhoni had reached the milestone last year, while other Indians who have done so are Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin.
Overall, Kohli, who played his 202nd innings, has become the 19th batsman to breach the 9000-run mark, making him the fastest to get there.
Earlier in the series, the Indian captain had surpassed Australian great Ricky Ponting in the list of most ODI hundreds with his 31st ton.
(With PTI inputs)
