India's youngsters are losing an inspiration: Dravid on Sachin

Rahul Dravid knew that the time for Sachin Tendulkar to retire was quite close but he didn’t have an ‘inkling’ that he would call it a day at the end of the West Indies series. In a chat with ESPNCricinfo, Dravid says that it is however, the ‘perfect’ time for him to draw a curtain over an illustrious career, given that his last Test will be his 200th overall and would probably be held in Mumbai. [caption id=“attachment_1166053” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Dravid was inspired by Tendulkar too. Reuters[/caption] Dravid also said that the process and thinking behind such a big decision is very hard to explain: “He must have just known from his heart. Speaking to him earlier, he seemed to be very comfortable with it but its hard to explain how you arrive at such a decision but it’s just something something that tells you, a feeling that the time is right.” Dravid also said that the decision need to necessarily be a hard one to make — because if you realise that you won’t be playing with the same energy and drive, then it’s the ’easiest’ decision to take. Dravid, one of India’s greatest batsmen, later explains how young cricketers will have lost an inspiration with Sachin going — since the fact that you would share the same dressing room and witness him from close quarters was one of the major encouragement points for a youngster coming through the ranks. Click here to watch the full conversation Dravid had with ESPNcricinfo.