Rahul Dravid most underrated, had a much bigger impact than anyone in Indian Cricket: Gautam Gambhir

New Delhi, June 22: Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir has claimed Rahul Dravid is one of the most under-rated India captains as the Karnataka cricketer doesn't get much credit for his leadership.

Dravid succeeded Ganguly as the captain of the Indian side and the team did reasonably well under him. India created a record for most successful run chases in the ODIs on the trot under Dravid's leadership. He even led the team to Test series victories in England and West Indies.

While speaking exclusively on Star Sports show Cricket Connected, Gambhir claimed while a lot is being said about Ganguly and MS Dhoni's captaincy, people tend to forget about the Karnataka cricketer's contribution as a skipper.

Highlighting the impact of Dravid's captaincy on Indian cricket, the former India opener 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."

Gambhir further said that Dravid's record as a cricketer, as well as a captain, never get the due respect as he did almost everything for the team.

"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. If you look at Rahul Dravid as a cricketer, I think if you asked him to open the batting in Test cricket, he did, he batted at No. 3, he kept wickets for India, he batted as a finisher, he did everything what Indian cricket asked him or what a captain asked him to do and that is the kind of role models you want.

"For me, I think he has had a bigger impact. Sourav Ganguly has always had a bigger impact in white-ball cricket because of his flamboyance, but Rahul Dravid overall, in Indian cricket, had a much bigger impact than probably anyone. You can actually match his impact to someone like Sachin Tendulkar as well because he played under the shadows of Sachin Tendulkar all his life, but yes, impact wise, probably the same," Gambhir said.

Perhaps the reason that Team India's exit from the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, where Dravid was the captain, in the first round could be the reason why the legendary cricketer doesn't get the respect he deserves as a captain.