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New Delhi: Former India head coach Rahul Dravid said he is not against ‘superstar culture’ in Indian cricket as he stressed that sport needs its heroes. India’s current head coach Gautam Gambhir has often spoken about ending ‘hero-worshipping’ and ‘superstar culture’ in Indian cricket, however, Dravid doesn’t agree with the stance of his former India teammate.

Gambhir has been vocal about the country celebrating individual achievements over team performances, but Dravid believes heroes are needed for a sport to grow and that individual accolades do play a role in the team’s success. The legendary batter cited the examples of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, among others, highlighting how they took Indian cricket to greater heights during their era.

Dravid explained how it’s not easy for anyone to become a fan-favourite and a legend of the game, stating that only a few manage to reach that status. The former India captain also highlighted the downside of it by pointing out the constant scrutiny a big player has to endure.

“Any sport needs its heroes, and I don’t think people become heroes without performances. You can’t capture the imagination of a nation if you don’t deliver on the field, especially in India, where you get a lot of praise for what you do, but also a lot of brickbats,” Dravid told Wisden on the Scoop podcast.

“There’s a lot of scrutiny and constant focus on you. So to become a legend or a superstar in India means you’ve done a lot of things right, and in the process, you’ve also helped your team win,” he added.

Dravid also opened up on India’s recent downfall in Test cricket and said it will be difficult for the team to replace veterans like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin, who have retired from the longest format. Ashwin retired from Tests during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2024, and Kohli and Rohit quit Test cricket last year.

India have endured a lean patch in Tests after the trio’s retirement. After suffering a whitewash against New Zealand in 2024, India were clean-swept by South Africa 2-0 in the two-match Test series at home under Gambhir last year. Amid the transition phase, India have struggled in Tests, but Dravid remains hopeful of the team bouncing back.

“The passion to do well in red-ball cricket is definitely there. We’ve had a couple of series where we haven’t performed as well as an Indian team, and that can happen. We are also missing a few key players, with some of the big names having recently retired – Rohit, Virat and Ashwin – and it is not easy to replace players like that. But Indian cricket remains very strong,” said Dravid.

“I still believe the Indian team will be competitive in every format it plays. It may take a little time, but hopefully this season we will be able to turn things around,” he added.