Rahul Dravid has been a part of India’s growing cricket culture and has witnessed it closely from his time as a player to coach.

The Indian Test great believes that the sport has flourished all over the country with talents not only coming from the metropolitan but also smaller towns, leaving an impact on domestic cricket. He illustrated the growth by saying that during his time as a player, the southern teams in the Ranji Trophy could be easily beaten but now they can give the opponents a run for their money.

However, he lamented that club culture needs to grow wider, to build an ecosystem that gives a chance to the youth across the country.

“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,” Dravid said during the 50-year celebration of Mount Joy Cricket Club.

“You cannot have talent or 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.”

Talking about his mindset during the formative years, he said that his focus during the club cricket days was on listening to his mentors and coaches, rather than practicing for “eggs and one small glass of milk.”

“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.”