To analyse Rahul Dravid’s game, there is probably none betterqualified than Keki Tarapore, his coach and greatest influence in hisimpressionable years
CricInfo17-Dec-2015To analyse Rahul Dravid’s game, there is probably none betterqualified than Keki Tarapore, his coach and greatest influence in hisimpressionable years. The 78-year-old Tarapore who, like Dravid, wasalso born in Indore and attended the St. Joseph’s Boys High School inBangalore is a former Ranji Trophy player himself. He made his debutfor Mysore against Madras at Bangalore in 1945 under the captaincy ofPE Palia.Tarapore’s foray into coaching began when he joined the RajkumariSports Coaching Scheme in 1959 at the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay,now known as the NIS (Netaji Institute of Sports). He was posted toJaipur for six months to coach the Rajasthan team and later shiftedback to Bangalore to work under the aegis of the Mysore CricketAssociation. From 1960 to 1991, Tarapore worked as coach to the Mysore(later Karnataka) team.From 1977 to 1991 he was also involved with the national campconducted by the BCCI every summer, first under Col. Hemu Adhikari aschief coach, and for the last two years under Hanumant Singh. Duringthis period a number of future Indian stars like Kapil Dev, RaviShastri, Kiran More, Shivlal Yadav, Roger Binny cut their teeth underTarapore’s watchful eyes.During his service to Karnataka, Tarapore was involved in the earlydevelopment of many exceptional players like EAS Prasanna, BSChandrasekhar, GR Viswanath, BP Patel, SMH Kirmani, SadanandViswanath, Anil Kumble and of course Rahul Dravid. In 1991, he washonoured with the Rajyotsava award for lifetime achievement in thefield of coaching, bestowed on him by the Chief Minister of Karnataka.In this conversation with CricInfo, Tarapore makes a thoughtfulappraisal of the current Indian vice-captain (and future Indiancaptain as he suggests).When did Dravid first come to you and when did you first spot thetalent in him?I first saw Rahul when he was a 11-year-old boy and a student of St.Joseph’s Boys High School. He attended a coaching camp conducted bythe Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) at the M. ChinnaswamyStadium where I was the only coach. He was a boy with tremendousdetermination and eager to learn the right technique for a batsman. Hefirst started to represent the state at the junior level. Once hestarted playing Ranji Trophy for the state and consistently producedruns, I could recognise that he had a chance to play for the country.He was always very hardworking and consistent in the matches played atthe camp.Was he always a batsman from the beginning or did he also bowl a bitor keep wickets?He came as a pure batsman, later on he took up a little bit of wicketkeeping and started bowling off breaks. That’s why even now he keepswickets for the country in case of an emergency. As a fielder he isquiet competent, especially in close positions which he has proven.What were the specific areas in which you fine tuned his game?From the beginning Rahul concentrated on the basics of the game. Evennow whenever he is not in form I advise him to go back to the basics.The most important factor in his career has been that he was alwaysready to learn and take proper advice and apply the same on the field.What do you think are Dravid’s strengths and weaknesses?Rahul’s main strength has been his sound defence and his weakness evennow sometimes has been his tendency to play too far across which hascost him his wicket.Do you agree that he does not have the ability to dominate thebowling?I don’t agree with that. In some circumstances, for the sake of theteam he has scored fast but normally he plays the role of ananchorman. When the side loses early wickets, Rahul’s contribution hasbeen beneficial to the team.How would you assess his leadership qualities? Do you think he is afuture captain of India?I noticed in Rahul at a young age that he had a natural ability tocaptain the side. Whenever he got the opportunity to lead he showedgood promise. Given the opportunity to lead the Indian team, I don’tthink he will fail in his duty as captain.