'You need to help a captain, but with him ... ': Rahul Dravid opens up on Rohit Sharma's captaincy, reveals skipper's care for team

Former India head coach Rahul Dravid has spoken about his experience of working with Rohit Sharma, offering insights into the captain’s leadership style during his tenure. In a recent video posted on R Ashwin’s YouTube channel, Dravid reflected on Rohit’s care for the team, describing the trait as crucial to their successful partnership. Dravid, who served as head coach from 2021 to 2024 and oversaw India’s ICC T20 World Cup triumph in June 2024, praised Rohit for his approach. “It was really good. Firstly, the thing with Rohit that I always felt was that he deeply cared about the team and he was very clear about it,” Dravid said. He further explained that Rohit set the tone from the very start of his captaincy. “Right from the first day, he was very clear about how he wanted to run the team and what was important to him. And that's really important in any relationship between a captain and a coach, especially the way I coach.” Dravid emphasised that he always believed in giving captains the space to lead. “I always like to believe that it should be the captain's team. I've been a player and I've been a captain as well, but a captain has to lead in terms of the direction he wants to go in, and you have to support him and help him in that,” he said. He added that Rohit’s clarity made his job easier. “Of course, you sometimes need to help a captain in terms of getting that clarity and understanding what is required. But with Rohit, I thought he was very clear about what he wanted from the team—how he wanted the environment to be, how he wanted the atmosphere to be, how he wanted things to run.” Dravid also explained that the experience Rohit brought to the role was one of the main reasons for his success. “He had so much experience over the years, and that really helped. He was very clear on those things.”