Rahul Dravid opens up: 'Had ups and downs but love of cricket kept me going'

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Mumbai, December 8: Former India skipper and current National Cricket Academy (NCA) head Rahul Dravid has said his career was not all smooth sailing and he had his "share of ups and downs" but his love for the game kept him going.

Desh Apnayen Sahayog Foundation and Satya Vigyan Foundation hosted the third talk of TRUTHtalks series with distinguished guest speaker Dravid. The talk was anchored by Ayaz Memon, veteran sports scribe.

Asked how he kept himself going straight as a needle, he replied saying that no individual's career ever is plain sailing and especially not in the sport that he played.

"I have had my share of ups and downs but I think what's kept me going is just the love for the game and just trying to get the best of myself," he explained.

Dravid also said that he believes in "coaching not just a cricketer but coaching a person". The former cricketer said sport has made him what he is today and playing cricket has given him all kinds of emotions and experiences be it good or bad.

"In sports, you are put in the spotlight a lot and your failure is very public, as your success is as well and you need to deal with that. It is not easy at times, it sometimes makes you do things that you necessarily not very proud of and sometimes you learn from those things. It has become so much more competitive today that it has actually become harder for sportsman to have a normal life," he added.

Memon also asked Dravid about the issue that surfaced post the winning of the U19 World Cup. Dravid expressed his emotions and mindset during that situation as he had felt hurt that he got a higher prize amount than the rest of the support staff and he wanted a fairly equal division of the prize money.

He added: "We as support staff did our bit to create the environment and I felt that everyone had played their part and so I just felt a little unfair that I was being paid a little bit extra."

When asked about guiding principles in his personal and professional life, Dravid said: "Being honest to who I am and try being myself and recognise that you know I am only the custodian of the game for a short period of time and I need to try to leave the game at a better place when I am going to leave."