India V New Zealand Match Today, Sharma and Dravid are quite similar temperament-wise, says Gavaskar

Mumbai: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes that head coach Rahul Dravid and T20I skipper Rohit Sharma are quite similar on temperament levels. He also feels that their bond will be very good as they understand each other well.

India’s three-match T20I series against New Zealand, starting from Wednesday in Jaipur, marks the first assignment of the Sharma-Dravid combination since Virat Kohli left the T20I captaincy and Ravi Shastri’s tenure ended.

“If you look at both of their temperaments, they are quite similar. Rohit is of a quiet nature just like Rahul Dravid. So, I think their bond will be quite good because both of them will understand each other well,” said Gavaskar on Follow The Blues show on Star Sports.

Former India opener Aakash Chopra, who was Dravid’s team-mate in Test cricket for a brief period, agreed with Gavaskar’s views. At the same time, he thinks that Sharma, in the company of Dravid, has to re-define India’s approach in white-ball cricket after India exited from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the Super 12 stage.

“He needs to define the future strategy of playing white-ball cricket because there is a requirement to redefine the way we play white-ball cricket and for that Rohit Sharma will have to be the leader and he’ll have to lead by example.”

Sharma had already captained India in T20Is on 19 occasions, leading the team to 15 wins while facing four losses. Previously, Dravid had stepped in to be the head coach when India toured Sri Lanka for a white-ball tour in July this year.