On Sunday Rahul Dravid, the former coach of India national cricket team, was see enjoying the final match of Tamil Nadu Premier League 2024 between Lyca Kovai Kings and Dindigul Dragons at MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk) in Chennai after he led Team India to 6th T20 World Cup win.
The official TNPL X handle shared a video of Dravid who spoke with the presenter on the sidelines during this match.
He responded, “Thanks so much. Thanks a lot. It’s just lovely being here at Chepauk again. This is a ground I’ve got lots of fond memories from so it’s nice to be back.”
In response to what he cherished most about Chepauk as asked by the presenter, Dravid stated that playing league cricket there would be his fondest memories for him because “I played with friends, really enjoyed myself playing league cricket here and of course some Test matches” “I got my 10000th run in Test cricket here at this ground.” “Played some fantastic Test matches against Australia, against England”. “Lots of matches come mind”, winning the World Cup game against Australia, ”thus there are a lot of things that come to my mind at this ground”.
“I loved playing my league cricket here for India Cements,” said Dravid when asked about his association with Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. “They came here as a young man of 21 played 3-4 years’ league cricket here and then played for India but I kept coming back to play league cricket and really learnt a lot and really enjoyed my time here, it was tough cricket, it was hard cricket but learnt a lot”. “I grew up so much like as an Indian cricketer till then in last few years before playing for India which made big difference.”
About TNPL itself, Dravid explained: “Look these leagues like TNPL, KPL have been terrific in a sense that they provide a lot of great opportunities for so many young people, look at this kind of crowd, for these young boys to be able play in front of this crowd I think it’s just phenomenal and it really gives them a great boost, so well done to the TNCA for organizing this and doing this in such a spectacular fashion and its great to see some young players playing but it’s also great to see the old veteran Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin) still contributing and still winning games for his team.”
Dravid later handed over the TNPL trophy to Ashwin whose team Dindigul Dragons won the final by defeating Lyca Kovai Kings by 6 wickets.
Dravid finished his tenure guiding India to T20 World Cup victory in June. Additionally to that India under Dravid qualified for finals of WTC as well as home 50 overs world cup last year.
