Notably, Dravid was known for his extreme endurance and textbook batting display. But like every successful cricketer, the Bangalore-born also faced lean patches in his career. However, Dravid always made brilliant comebacks and became one of the greatest batters in world cricket.
Recently, in a podcast – ‘In the Zone’ – with India’s first individual Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, Dravid revealed how switching off from the game helped him mentally and focus in the game.
“If I look back on my career, that..managing my energy, more of my mental energy was the real game-changer in terms of longevity in my career and in terms of performance. I used to expend a lot of energy, even when I was not playing, thinking about my game, maybe reflecting on it, worrying about it. In time I kind of learned that was not necessarily actually not helping my sport or helping me play better. I needed to refresh and almost find a life outside of cricket,” Dravid said in the podcast.
Dravid further said he could never score freely like a Virender Sehwag or Sachin Tendulkar, but he found his way to deal with pressure and battle against some of the best bowlers of his time.
“As my career progressed, I realised, I was never gonna be someone who will be scoring quickly like a Sehwag did or maybe to an extent as Sachin did. I was always going to need patience. I loved that contest between me and the bowler, sort of tried to make it a one-on-one contest. I found that help me concentrate a bit more,” added Dravid.
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