‘If the money is good enough…’: Rahul Dravid floors India cricketers and BCCI delegates with biopic hero wish
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When Rahul Dravid announced himself as the 'Indiranagar ka gundaa' in a credit card payment application advertisement, it took the internet by storm. Seeing the forever good boy of the gentleman's game resort to hooliganism seemed unbelievable, even by on-screen standards. But just like the wicketkeeping role in ODI cricket, Dravid seamlessly adapted to his celluloid avatar, making everyone's eyes widen.
A few months after the ad rampaged social media, Dravid was appointed as India's head coach. He was shaping the future of Indian cricket as the A team and U19 team head coach and then as the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) but the senior team provided a different challenge.
The spotlight was back on Dravid. The 'gunda' made way for the calm yet assured presence like it never existed. Despite this, as astonishing as it may seem, Dravid enjoyed his on-camera roles. Of course, not as much as the hook shot off a bouncer, certainly nowhere the pride and satisfaction of holding the T20 World Cup trophy but definitely as a sheepish dream. An alternate career option? Nyah. That's just not Dravid. That, however, doesn't mean he would let go of an opportunity to play himself on the silver screen, only if it pays well though.
During a Q&A session during the CEAT Cricket Awards, Dravid responded hilariously when asked about the actor he would pick to play himself in a biopic, saying, "If the money is good enough, I will play it myself."
Needless to say, his answer left the room of delegates in splits. As eloquent as Dravid is, it was least expected that he would pick himself as the face of his biopic.
‘Didn’t want to change anything ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup': Dravid
Speaking on what changed between India's 10-match win streak which ended with a heartbreaking loss to Australia in the 50-over World Cup last year and this year's undefeated run to the ICC T20 World Cup title, Dravid said that the team could not have done anything different in terms of preparation, plans and execution and they did not want to change anything.
"Honestly, I did not want to do anything different. I think we ran a fantastic campaign in the one-day World Cup, Rohit and the team, everyone involved in that one-day World Cup, we ran a superb campaign. There's nothing we could have done more in terms of our preparation, the planning, the execution of what we needed to do for 10 games in a row to dominate, to win the game we did, play the game we did," said Dravid.
"I did not want to change anything. If you had asked me and we had a discussion with our support staff, we would get together with the coaches and say, what do you think we should do differently?" The common consensus (among the team) was we needed to do exactly what we did. We need to create the same energy, create the same vibe, the same team atmosphere that we had and then just hope that on the day, we will have a little bit of luck," he added.
Dravid said that he was never a part of a home World Cup as a player and to travel all over the country and experience the passion of fans was a phenomenal experience to him.
"To travel all over this country and to be able to experience that joy and passion of the fans. I have never been a part of a World Cup as a player in India, but just the experience as a coach to go from city to city and just walk and see what this game meant to the people of this country was phenomenal. It was incredible," Dravid said.
"I thought we ran a phenomenal campaign. We came unstuck in the final and Australia played better cricket than us on the day. They were a better team and congratulations (to them). That can happen in sport and that's what sport is about," he added.
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