Former India cricketer and Head Coach, Rahul Dravid once again caught the eyeballs after his gesture of demanding equal bonus. Dravid, who ended his tenure with the T20 World Cup 2024 victory with Rohit Sharma-led Team India, has once again set an example of his kind character, deciding to let go of half of the prize money from Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s bonus prize money.
It is to be noted that the BCCI after India’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph in Barbados, had announced a prize money of INR 125 for the World Champions. However, according to the reports quoting TOI, the 15-member squad, along with Head Coach Rahul Dravid, batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and fielding coach T Dilip, are set to receive INR 5 Crore. While the four reserve players are reportedly set to get INR 1 Crore, the other members of the support staff, including three physiotherapists, three throwdown specialists, two masseurs, and strength and conditioning coach, media officers, and logistics manager will also be rewarded with a share from this massive prize money.
But as per a report published by Hindustan Times, Rahul Dravid has asked the board to reduce his cash reward to INR 2.5 Crore as he didn’t want to get more money in comparison to the batting, bowling and fielding coaches. “Rahul wanted the same bonus (INR 2.5 Crore) as the rest of his support staff (bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, fielding coach T Dilip and batting coach Vikram Rathour). We respect his sentiments,” a BCCI source said, as quoted by HT.
It is to be noted that this is not the first time Dravid has shown such a gesture. He took a similar stance while serving as the Head Coach to the India’s U-19 World Cup winning team in 2018. He was set to get INR 50 lakh while the other members were set to receive INR 20 Lakh each. The 51-year-old then also had forced BCCI to change the distributions and reward everyone equally, with everyone getting INR 25 Lakh.
During his tenure, which began in November 2021, Dravid took India to World Test Championship Final in 2023 and ODI World Cup Final in the same year. Moreover, under Dravid’s coaching tenure, India became the No. 1 team in both Tests and ODIs with the T20 World Cup title victory coming as the icing on the cake as it was his last assignment with Team India.