Rohit Sharma’s wife, Ritika Sajdeh, came up with an emotional post for former India head coach Rahul Dravid, whose tenure came to an end with India’s successful T20 World Cup campaign. Hours after Rohit revealed that Dravid was the Indian captain’s “work wife” according to Ritika, she revealed how close Dravid was to the Sharma family. Ritika reshared Rohit’s emotional post on her Instagram story late Tuesday night.
Ritika said their daughter Samaira will miss Dravid the most. “So many emotions, you mean so much to our entire family. You will be missed so much. I think Sammy will miss you the most,” she wrote.
The post came a couple of hours after BCCI appointed Gautam Gambhir as Dravid’s successor. The former India opener was named India’s head coach until December 2027.
Rohit and Dravid have been working closely for the last three years. They both started their journeys as the honchos of Indian team management after the T20 World Cup in 2021. Dravid took over from Ravi Shastri as the head coach, while Rohit was named the white-ball captain of India. He took over as the all-format captain after Virat Kohli decided to step down following the South Africa tour in December- January 2022.
“My wife (Ritika Sajdeh) refers to you as my work wife and I am lucky to get to call you that too,” the current skipper wrote about his first international captain on his Instagram page.
Rohit’s tribute was also an indicator of how the player-coach equation works in the Indian dressing room.
“I have been trying to find the right words to properly express my feelings on this but I’m not sure I ever will,” the Indian skipper, not known to be overtly emotional, wrote.
“You are an absolute stalwart of this game but you left all of your accolades and achievements at the door and walked in as our coach and came on a level where we all felt comfortable enough to say just about anything to you.
“That is your gift, your humility and your love for this game even after all this time,” Rohit wrote.
Rohit, who made his senior team debut in 2007 in Dublin, with Dravid as captain, wrote how he looked up to him during his formative years as a player.
Dravid had recently revealed that it was Rohit whose phone call stopped him from resigning after the Indians lost in the final of the ODI World Cup last year.
In the Rohit-Dravid era, India registered home Test series wins against Australia and England, reached the semi-final of the T20 World Cup in 2022, the final of the World Test Championship in 2023, the final of the ODI World Cup at home the same year. Their journey ended with the biggest prize as India went on to lift the T20 World Cup, beating South Africa in the final. It was their first ICC trophy in 11 years.
Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
