Have the hunger and desire to play for India- Rahul Dravid

Hailed as The Wall, Rahul Dravid has been described as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He was named one of the best five cricketers of the year by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2000 and received the Player of the Year and the Test Player of the Year awards at the inaugural ICC awards ceremony in 2004. In December 2011, he became the first non-Australian cricketer to address at the Bradman Oration in Canberra. Dravid has also been honored with the Padma Bhushan award, India's third highest civilian award. Legendary cricketer shared his thought with Sports Kreeda reporter  Ekta  Khangawal .

1) You’ve been affectionately called "the wall" or "Mr. Dependable". How have you managed to form and then maintain this image?

I have never tried to maintain an image or a stature. I have never tried to effectively try to become the wall or a Mr. dependable that have just happened as a part of my career. I just tried to be myself and be the best person I can be.Even now honestly I don’t try and live up to any of these images whatever images that media makes for me and I never thought of myself as a wall, I just tried to play the best I could play to my strength and play the way I wanted to play and I believed which were effective to the team

2) Which current Indian player do you feel befits this image?

I don’t like to label people with images I think there are some very good talented young players in Indian team whether  Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma. All these guys I think they are terrific and very good players. They have long way to go, they have a lot to achieve and they will face many challenges in their careers. Hopefully they will establish themselves and play together for a long time which would definitely benefit the Indian team.

3) You have achieved so much in your life. You're practically a legend. Who was your greatest inspiration?

My Greatest inspiration has been my parents. My father is a great role model and inspired me to play. The love I received from my mother, motivated me to play.

4) Now that you don't play, what is the next goal you aim to achieve?

Honestly I am still trying to find out the big goal. I got myself involved in media activities, commentary and little bit of coaching. Hopefully I would like to be involved in few social causes and will see where and what happens in the future.

5) Do you think franchise based leagues trend is good for sport?

I think franchise based leagues are very good for the sport because it help more people to get opportunities to play in really exciting leagues. Also franchise based leagues allow more investments and more money is to come into the game  which can help domestic and grass root level sport .So I think there are lots of advantages which franchise based leagues can bring. But we  should ensure country interest should  never be  compromised.

7) Who is the most promising Player in Rajasthan Royals, Which you think can play for India?

I think we have many promising players in Rajasthan Royals, I think Sanju Samson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Shukla , Dishant Yagnik, Ashok Minaria. So there are lots of young players and hopefully we expect big things from them in the future.

6) Which is your best moment shared with Sachin Tendulkar?

I think there are many dressing room moments that I have shared with Sachin, which I really enjoyed. Of course we shared many partnerships in the middle which have been special but more importantly the memories of friendship and time that we spent together, celebrating victories will always remain with me.

8) What message would you like to give to young budding cricketers with dreams?

I think most important thing I would convey to young budding cricketers is to enjoy the game and play the game for the enjoyment .You will get to learn how to play. You should learn sport for the right reason and hopefully you keep improving. Have a goal, work hard towards it. Have the hunger and desire to play for India also have the discipline to make it worth.