IND vs AUS | Rahul Dravid established players, now Indian kids are beating Australia, reckons Shoaib Akhtar 

Indian cricket fans have been raving about Rahul Dravid ever since the senior team registered a memorable win at the Gabba to win the Test series 2-1 on Tuesday. The depth of India's bench strength has come to the fore and the youngsters have done a great job in absence of several senior stalwarts. The likes of Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar have played under Dravid's coaching some time or the other, be it in the Under-19 level or for India A. Presently, he's serving as the Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). 

"But think about it. Who was the player that was given charge of the academy? The best Test player produced in the country, Rahul Dravid. Because they did not want to spoil the kids. He created the U-19 team, he established players in the academy, and now these Indian kids are beating Australia."

"Look at Rishabh Pant, he is so fearless. He does not care. But who gives him the confidence and freedom to play freely? The management. The management tells him to go and play freely and win the match. He almost won the third Test, he won the 4th Test. The environment and management are allowing him to play his game," one of the fastest bowlers of all-time said.

"Teams are made in the dressing room. No matter how much you criticise him, he won a series in Australia without his key players. He allowed the youngsters to shine. And these youngsters were made available by the system."

"The bench strength of India with these youngsters won this Test. A system has won that India had invested in past 10-20 years ago. They brought solid, honest hardworkers, and people who were not in it to make money. They were people who cared about cricket. Rahul Dravid came first, and then Sourav Ganguly, Ravi Shastri.

"Ravi Shastri and the youngsters have done what was considered impossible. Shastri has a mindset where he showed faith in the young players and they exploded on to the scene. Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Siraj, Gill, Pant, Mayank Agarwal - these youngsters did not see what was happening around them, and just played their game and won the match."

"The board that invests in youngsters, and bring in solid people to build a team, only they will get such results. This is one of the top 3 best series in history. India won without key players. India's kids won this. They showed that their investment, their system is so solid, that they can win even with all odds stacked against them," Akhtar signed off.