New Delhi: Rohit Sharma says it as he sees it in press conferences, with plenty of wisecracks and headline-worthy quotes thrown in. Rahul Dravid is usually serious and offers long-winded answers, never giving anything away. Rohit is the epitome of grace and flamboyance as a batter. Dravid made every ounce of his patience and perseverance count as a batter. Rohit is the quintessential street-smart operator from the suburbs of Borivali in Mumbai. Dravid is suave and sophisticated, given his upbringing in upscale Indiranagar in Bengaluru. Rohit is laidback and doesn’t get overly caught up in the intricacies of technique and extensive analysis of his game. Dravid, in his own view, was guilty on occasions of thinking too much about his batting.

These contrasts can be significant enough to result in a clash of personalities between a captain and coach. And that invariably leads to one of them, usually the coach, departing prematurely on a bitter note. Indian cricket has been down that road before.

But in this relationship between Rohit and Rahul Dravid, there was no acrimony. Instead, there was rapport and harmony towards the common objective of driving Indian cricket forward.

They have succeeded in that ambition, having started planning on revitalising their white-ball game three years ago, and part ways now with a World Cup trophy by their side. This was Dravid’s final assignment as the coach of the Indian team while Rohit has confirmed that he is retiring from T20Is.

The emotional scenes after the manic end to the final against South Africa on Saturday, their faces oscillating between tears and toothy smiles, were illustrative of the magnitude of this moment.

For Rohit, 37, this was another shot, having come ever close at last year’s 50-over spectacle, at leading India to a World Cup win. He had been part of the Indian team that won the inaugural World T20 in 2007, but he was a rookie then. Many tough experiences in the following years, none greater than his omission for the 2011 ODI World Cup, have shaped Rohit to becoming the well-rounded individual and cricketer that he is, and he desperately wanted a World Cup title as a senior pro to show for his growth.

For Dravid, this was the final opportunity to claim a major title having served Indian cricket with distinction for nearly three decades, first as a player and then as a coach. Despite Test series wins in the Caribbean and England and striving towards making India a better chasing team in white-ball cricket, Dravid’s captaincy stint was marred by India’s early exit in the 2007 50-over World Cup. By now winning the T20 World Cup as coach in the Caribbean, the very scene of his heartbreak 17 years ago, he has earned a fitting reward for his towering contributions in the game.

At the core of this relationship that worked was mutual respect. It took priority over all the healthy arguments they, no doubt, must have had in their three-year association at the helm of Indian cricket. Rohit’s comments in the post-match press conference on Saturday reflected that admiration for a man who was captain when he first entered the Indian team. “More than any one of us, I think he deserved that trophy,” Rohit said. “What he has done for Indian cricket for the past 20-25 years, I think this was the only thing that was missing in his cabinet. I am very happy on behalf of the entire team that we could actually do this for him. You saw how proud he was and how excited he was.”

Dravid had said equally complimentary things about Rohit before the final. “No praise will be high enough for Rohit. The way he has led the team, his stability and maturity…the way the team responds to him. The time he spends in strategy, planning and discussion with all of us, I couldn’t speak more highly of him as a cricketer and as a person,” Dravid, 51, told Star Sports.

When Rohit and Dravid were appointed captain and coach respectively in November 2021, they were taking charge of an Indian team that had failed to make the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in the UAE, the first such instance in an ICC event since 2012. Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, fairly similar personalities, had made commendable contributions towards making India a force in Test cricket across all conditions, but the absence of silverware in white-ball events had started to become glaring.

Rohit and Dravid also had their moments of despair when they lost in the final of the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup last year. June 29, 2024, however, has ensured that glory in Barbados will be the abiding memory of their stint.

Dravid will return to life away from the incessant spotlight from next week, but if it was up to Rohit, he would have wanted his ally behind the scenes to stay on at least until he remains captain of the Test and one-day teams. “I tried convincing him to stay, but obviously, there are a lot of things that he needs to look after as well,” Rohit had said at the beginning of the T20 World Cup. “But yeah, I’ve personally enjoyed my time with him. I’m sure the rest of the guys will say the same.”

Retirements and goodbyes in sport are never complete without bringing up the topic of legacy. But neither Dravid nor Rohit is the kind to give it importance. “I am not a legacy person, I am not looking for legacies, I just feel glad that we could give our best,” Dravid told reporters.

We can say this for certain though. Just by plotting India’s path to a World Cup title after a 13-year drought, they’ve left Indian cricket in a better place than when they took over.

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