Irfan Pathan opened up on how Rahul Dravid motivated him and MS Dhoni after Team India faced a shocking exit in the 2007 World Cup.
Former Indian bowler Irfan Pathan has revealed that Rahul Dravid took him and MS Dhoni out for a movie, three days after India's stunning exit from the 2007 World Cup. Dravid was India's captain at the time and Pathan revealed how the Indian batting legend 'infused life' in him and Dhoni with his words.
Team India lost their opening game to Bangladesh and faced another defeat against Sri Lanka, as the side was ousted in the group stages of the 2007 World Cup.
Recalling the moment, Pathan said that he 'loved' playing under Dravid.
"Many know that Dada was my first captain and he backed me a lot. Anil Kumble could’ve captained a lot more games for India. MS Dhoni has achieved everything. But, I loved playing under Dravid, because there was proper communication under him," Pathan said, in an interview with Sports Tak. (ALSO READ: Anushka understands what I want to say by just looking at my body language: Kohli)
"Three days after we were out of the 2007 WC, we all were sitting in a room deeply dejected. That’s when Dravid called us and we went to watch ‘300’ movie.
"After some time, he said to me ‘Irfan, this is not end of the world, you played a lot of cricket and will play more in future as well, it was bad that we lost, you and Dhoni will go on and play a lot of cricket for India’. His words made us feel like we are not dead but still alive."
Pathan went on to play a major role in India's victory in the inaugural T20 World Cup in the same year and Dhoni, too, began his successful journey as the captain of the Indian team with the tournament.
