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Bengaluru: Former India coach Rahul Dravid found Rohit Sharma's openness to change a major positive while he was leading the team, noting that his job was made easier as the captain's message effortlessly filtered through the squad.

Dravid served as India's head coach for nearly three years, guiding the national team to the 2024 T20 World Cup triumph in the Americas under Rohit's captaincy, after which Gautam Gambhir took over the role.

Rohit is known for his friendly banter and popularity among teammates, which helped him build a strong rapport and made it easier to share his thoughts on team improvement.

"When your leader stands up and says, 'I'm the one who will do that at the cost of sometimes my so-called average and the runs that I may score', it's a lot easier to pass that message (to teammates). The fact that he led the whole thing, you know, made your (coach's) job that much easier," said the legendary Dravid at a function organised by the Karnataka State Cricket Association.

"He showed the way," Dravid added on Tuesday.

Dravid said Rohit quickly recognised that Indian white-ball cricket needed to evolve and he was someone who took the responsibility for driving the game forward.

"I think the easy part in this thing was working with Rohit, someone who himself really had quite a dispute with him. He was also recognising that the game was changing.

"I think, you know, the nature of batsmanship in white-ball cricket over the last 10 years or so... everything had started to change. In some ways, there was a feeling that we were slightly behind and we needed to get better at that. We needed to push the envelope a little bit more.

"We needed to take a few more risks. Run rates were going up. All of these things were going up. So, it was then actually just very easy to have that conversation with him. I think, he was completely on board. He was someone who took the responsibility of setting the game forward," said Dravid.

Lauding Rohit's batting, Dravid said the former skipper adapted brilliantly to the demands of the modern game.

"He (Rohit) already had a phenomenal record. I mean, his performances in the 2019 World Cup were absolutely phenomenal. Five hundreds and, you know, playing at a certain tempo. But that tempo needed to change." Dravid believes coaching is an evolving process, with what is relevant today potentially becoming outdated tomorrow, and that coaches must remain open to change.

"So, one thing to learn as a coach is that you should never coach like you did yourself. I think the deal's changed a lot.

"You know, the late Mr. (Keki) Tarapore , who was a phenomenal coach, a phenomenal man. If I hit the ball in the air, he would make me run down the ground. He said, 'you've got to keep the ball on the ground. Keep it to the bottom, lean, keep it straight'," said Dravid.

Tarapore is credited with coaching a number of cricketing greats, including Dravid and Anil Kumble.

"You just imagine, if I were to be coached by him now... and to keep the ball to the ground and not to hit it in the air... that's not going to work, right? So, I think you've got to change with the times. You've got to realise what's the need that we have," opined Dravid.