On Saturday Samit Dravid, a middle-order batsman who bowls medium pace, was named in the India Under-19 team for a series against Australia U19 at home in September. People who know the son of Rahul Dravid say that the 18-year-old can handle the pressure of the famous surname.
“Samit has grown up knowing what his father’s stature is and knows that there is going to be a lot of pressure,” Samit’s childhood coach Karthik Jeshwanth told The Indian Express.
“So that’s what Rahul and myself have been telling him, not to be bothered about any outside noise or attention. He will be judged on his own skills and what he does on the field. He has to learn to live with the attention without it affecting his batting.”
Congratulations to @mysore_warriors‘ Samit Dravid on being selected for India’s U19 squad against Australia U19. 👏
The #MaharajaT20 has already given us a sneak peek of what’s in store! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/gDwF1Bxd7p
— FanCode (@FanCode) August 31, 2024
RX Murali, who is the coach of Mysore Warriors, the team that Samit plays for in the Maharaja Cup, says he is down to earth and even-tempered.
“I have no doubt, Samit has it in him to go all the way,” Murali, who has coached the likes of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, says.
“I can’t even imagine the pressure of the shoes he has to fill. But we make sure that in our team that we don’t discuss all that. Luckily for us, the boy is grounded, sweet, and all his team-mates have nothing but good stuff to share about him. He is pretty easy-going. He has no airs about where he comes from,” Murali says.
Old picture of Rahul Dravid with his sons. (File)
Samit has been among the runs and wickets. In the Cooch Behar Trophy earlier this year, he made 362 runs and took 16 wickets in eight matches during Karnataka’s title-winning campaign.
Murali recalls an early impression about Samit’s technique.
“It’s the way his hands move through the line of the ball that stood out for me. His head and feet position, too. He is very aggressive and brave in his mind-set. It’s the approach that had his team-mates here go ‘wow’ at some of his shots. He has quite a few shots actually beyond the clips you might have all seen — the cover drive where he leans well into the shot, the straight drive, the pull of course and the ability to hit the lofted shots. To turn the conventional shots into aerial, like the inside-out aerial cover drive.”
Shots that have gone viral
Some of his shots are already viral. There is that lofted cover drive and a pull that stands out. The pull reminiscent of a young Rahul in the way it would finish with a reverb of the bat, almost.
But it’s the other shot of Samit – the inside-out lofted cover drive that speaks a lot about that ‘bravery’ that Murali talks about. Samit doesn’t seem to have any predetermined notions or at least doesn’t commit himself. As he spots the trajectory and the length, he decides to take on the spinner. He leans forward to let his hands go through the line and the ball soars over extra cover. Smooth, silky, fluid and ‘and brave’.
In 2015, the senior Dravid had spoken about his first son. Incidentally the younger one Anvay too plays cricket and is the captain of Karnataka’s U-16 team, a wicketkeeper-batsman.
“He’s ok, he’s got good hand-eye coordination, He just smashes it and that is what I encourage him to do…,” Dravid had told Wisden India. “I don’t really get into trying to coach him too much. I just want him to enjoy it and just play the game, have some fun with it. He plays different sports at the moment, which is nice. He is too young at the moment for anything more.”
Turns out that moment for where he is not too young anymore is upon the Dravids.
Dravid also recently spoke about how he doesn’t coach his kids. “I don’t coach my son Samit as it is difficult to play roles (parent and coach),” Dravid had told JioCinema. “I am happy to be a father. I…don’t know what I am doing in that role also,” Dravid added in his self-deprecating humour.
Jeshwanth is understandably wary about saying too much, but does sum up thus: “I have been coaching him since the beginning and whatever trait one found in his father, you can find it in him. His work ethic and discipline is what stands out the most. The world is yet to see Samit. Of course he played in the T20s, but there is still more to him than what we have seen.
Interestingly, Samit’s bowling has impressed Murali. “He moves the ball around, has genuine skills there, and also likes bowling his bouncers!”
There is a video of a game against a young Lancashire team where Samit bounced out a batsman and seamed one across a left-hander to get a nick behind. There are no wild celebrations when he takes a wicket. Rather, he quietly walks towards his team-mates. “Very composed and quietly-competitive,” Murali says. Like father, like son.
