“I actually learned that is the mindset..”– Rahul Dravid explains how Yusuf Pathan redefined his T20 approach

Former Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid shared how his thinking about batting in T20 cricket changed after watching Yusuf Pathan in the first season of the Indian Premier League in 2008. Yusuf scored 435 runs in 15 innings during IPL 2008 at a strike rate of 179.01. He played a big role in the Rajasthan Royals winning the title that year.

Dravid remembered how Yusuf played a fast innings early in the tournament and continued with the same attacking style. Dravid, who played for Rajasthan Royals from 2011 to 2013, said Yusuf did not change his approach, which was different from what he had expected.

“When I first played the IPL, one of the things I realised was that we [then Royal Challengers Bangalore] did not have a very good season. I was watching Yusuf Pathan bat. Early in the tournament, he played a great innings. He smashed the ball and scored around 50 very quickly. In the next two or three innings, he played the same way and got out. I kept thinking Yusuf would slow down now. But he did not. He kept playing the same way and then played another brilliant innings,” Dravid said in a video on his YouTube channel.

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Dravid added that Yusuf’s batting style changed how he looked at batting in the shortest format. He said that before watching Yusuf, he used the same approach in T20 cricket that he followed in Test cricket.

Yusuf Pathan Changed Dravid’s T20 Mindset

“During 13 or 14 innings in the IPL, he may have succeeded only three or four times, but those were very important innings. Watching him helped me understand the mindset needed for T20 cricket. Earlier, I played T20 cricket with the same mindset as Test cricket, where you value your wicket because the team needs to bat for 120 overs. In T20 cricket, only 11 players need to bat for 20 overs,” Dravid added.

Yusuf Pathan, who won the Player of the Match award for his strong all-round performance in the IPL 2008 final, played a key role in Rajasthan Royals’ title win. During the tournament, he scored four half-centuries and hit 43 fours and 25 sixes in 15 innings.