Test cricket will face a stiff survival challenge in a decade's time as kids may prefer easy bucks in T20 format: Rahul Dravid

Former India captain and one of the best No 3 batsmen to have played the game Rahul Dravid on Wednesday cautioned that Test cricket will face a stiff survival challenge in a decade's time since children, who are growing up now, may then prefer easy bucks in Twenty20 format over the traditional form of the game, says a report in Indian Express.

"I think today's youngsters like Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary have grown up watching and idealising the Test cricket. It's (about) kids of my son's age, who have grown up watching T20 and IPL, and what those kids want, will be the challenge in 10 years' time," said Dravid at a book launch function today.

"I don't see that as an immediate problem, I see it as a long-term issue. That challenge is going to arise in 10 years' time and we need to address that problem right now," said the batsman who was the proverbial rock at no.3 for India in Tests for more than a decade and a half.

Meanwhile a report in The Tribune quotes Dravid, "I had gone through a degree in commerce and not very successfully. So I knew that the only option for me was to be a successful Test cricketer at that stage. Today the options are a lot more. People have the option of not playing Test cricket but still making money out of the game. Who is to blame kids for taking that option? I won't judge them on that."
"I want to tell kids that the greatest satisfaction you are going to get is by playing Test cricket across these wonderful stadiums in the world. So don't sell yourself short," the former Indian skipper said.

“Retirement will mean a big shift in Rahul’s life, of not having training or teammates around him or the chance to compete again. The family, though, is delighted to have him back.”

That’s how Vijeeta, Rahul Dravid’s wife, concludes her chapter ‘My Husband The Perfectionist’ in the book Timeless Steel, a compilation of articles written on him over the years by current and former cricketers, historians, journalists and, of course, Vijeeta herself, says a report in The Times Of India.

At 39, most professionals get busy fine-tuning their careers and charting out plans on how to take it to the next level. There are a good 20-odd years still left to work it out, make the best of what you’ve been good at. That’s the irony of being a professional sportsperson. At 39, Dravid is going through that phase right now.

All those years of perfecting the most elegant cover drive, cursing himself over a dropped catch, shedding a tear after painful defeats, exhaling in joy after a well-earned victory – they will all eventually be memories. Timeless Steel captures those memories of Dravid, the cricketer who doesn’t mind confessing that he wasn’t born with that kind of talent as much as he worked hard accumulating it.