The legendary Rahul Dravid on Sunday said that Indian cricket has evolved into an “extremely powerful” force, thanks to the growing talent pool that now extends to even the remotest corners of the country. Dravid, who masterminded India’s triumph in the T20 World Cup, said a strong club cricket culture has a lot to do with bucking the old trend of city cricketers dominating the passage to the national team. “If you look at Indian cricket today, Indian cricket is extremely strong, it’s extremely powerful. One of the big reasons for that is that talent comes from everywhere, from all over the country,” said Dravid during the 50th year celebration of Mount Joy Cricket Club.

“I think if you go back to the time of say GR Vishwanath or even when I was starting out my career, most of the talent came from the big cities or from few other states.”

“Even if they were talented boys in smaller places, they had to come to the big cities to play cricket. But today I think you see in Indian cricket that boys are coming from everywhere,” he added.

Dravid said it’s getting reflected in the standards of domestic cricket in India.

“You just look at the standard of the Ranji Trophy. In the old days when you played in the South Zone, other than playing Hyderabad or Tamil Nadu, I think it is fair to say, without being disrespectful, that a lot of other teams you could take it not for granted but you could certainly take it a little bit more lightly.

“I don’t think there is any team in the South Zone today that you can walk in and say that you will comfortably beat,” he added.

Hailing the club cricket structure in the country, particularly in Karnataka, Dravid said the system has allowed the sport to remain accessible to all.

“We need clubs to be strong. We need cricket not to be concentrated in the hands of a few people. We need cricket to be egalitarian, we need it to be all over the place.

“You cannot have talent or you cannot have facilities concentrated only in one or two places. To get the best out of talent, we need to ensure that young boys and girls are getting access to good infrastructure in every part,” he noted.

The 51-year-old former Indian captain then briefly revisited his club career when he was young to underscore the need for that system to thrive.

“After the practice, HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) would give us two eggs and one small glass of milk. I would always stay back for that glass of milk and those eggs. Not because I wanted the milk and eggs.

“But because I wanted to sit and listen to the likes of BK Kumar or Nandan talking about cricket. And it used to be great fun to listen to them and learn so much from them,” said Dravid.

Former India captain Rahul Dravid was on Friday announced as the head coach of the Indian Premier League team Rajasthan Royals on a multi-year contract. Dravid’s tenure as India’s head coach ended in June with the team winning the T20 World Cup for the second time. PTI had reported a few days ago that Dravid was set for his next move to RR. “The former Royals’ captain and coach spent five seasons with the franchise from 2011 to 2015, and will commence with the team immediately, working with Royals’ director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara to implement the franchise’s overall cricketing strategy,” the franchise said in a statement.

Dravid has coached Rajasthan Royals in 2014 and has held different roles with the India U-19 team as well as at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

“His exceptional coaching capabilities are evident with the transformation he’s driven in Indian cricket. He also has a deep connection to the franchise, and we’ve seen that passion come through in all our conversations,” Jake Lush McCrum, CEO of the Royals Sports Group said.

“Rahul has already got to work with Kumar (Sangakkara) and the rest of the team, as we prepare for this exciting new period for the franchise starting with IPL retention and the auction just around the corner,” he said.

“After the World Cup, I feel it’s the ideal time for me to take on another challenge, and the Royals is the perfect place to do that,” Dravid said.

“We have made fantastic progress in our on-field performance over the past few years, but there is still lots to learn, improve and grow. His return will, hopefully, further accelerate our progress and will be a great boost for everyone involved, most importantly our players and our fans,” said lead owner Manoj Badale.

Sangakkara said, “Rahul is one of the greatest players to have played the game, but what he has achieved over the past decade as a coach is extraordinary.” “The characteristics that he possesses as a coach to nurture talent but also enable them to consistently perform at the highest level, will allow the Rajasthan Royals to further challenge for the title,” he added.