After spending three days in hard quarantine in India, being in a 10-hour flight to South Africa and undergoing yet another day of hard quarantining in their report, the Men in Blue spent a day getting used to the raised elevation level of Johannesburg, shook off the jet lag and do some sort of physical activity to get rid of the fatigue.

How did #TeamIndia recharge their batteries ahead of their first training session in Jo'Burg?

On your marks, get set & Footvolley! #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/dIyn8y1wtz

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 18, 2021

Now, unless you are living under a rock, you would have to know that Ravichandran Ashwin remains one of the most competitive cricketers to be playing the game for the Indian squad. He is well known to show aggression on the field, challenge himself to do better as an athlete, become more versatile and simply commit to whatever it takes to win a match.

What you might not know is that the former captain of the Indian cricket team and the current head coach, Rahul Dravid continues to match Ashwin’s level of competitiveness even at the age of 48 and went toe-to-toe with the Chennai-born superstar in arguing over certain technicalities of a casual game of footvolley during Team India’s soft-training day in South Africa.

View this post on Instagram

In the video shared by the BCCI Twitter handle, Dravid seems to be all charged up and giving cricketers over 10-20 years younger than him a run for their money while kicking a ball over the net in the game of footvolley.

However, one of the points earned by Dravid did not sit well with Ashwin ‘Anna’ who immediately started arguing with the cameraperson, his own teammates and the rival team while taking an exception to Dravid’s kick.

View this post on Instagram

With a smile on his face, Dravid also looked around the area, trying to justify his kick and that the way he won the point was completely legal and there was no way that he was going to settle by not winning that point.

First of all, it is rather commendable to see the head coach actively taking part in a team-building activity and it was very evident by the way Virat Kohli was reacting, that everyone was loving Dravid being there. Secondly, the fact that Dravid was arguing for a point that means absolutely nothing, only proves that despite being in a coaching spot for so many years, he continues to be a competitor at heart.

The fans also saw the competitiveness in Ashwin and Dravid’s actions clearly and even though it was not a serious competition, it allowed them to appreciate having the two legends of the game on their side.

When was the last time you saw an Indian coach equally participating in all the practice sessions with players? May be only Kirsten? https://t.co/k7N3PCwuJo

— Subhajit (@subhajit_mshra) December 18, 2021

Dravid's kick tells you how competitive he is even now https://t.co/vAVoKWbnBA

— Navleen Kaur (@NavleenSpeaks) December 18, 2021

Ash here also getting into feuds https://t.co/akyi1MY5LW

— Deeksha (@Deeksha45015326) December 18, 2021

Dravid is still so competitive https://t.co/fAPelFC55U

— 𝙨𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙮𝙖 (@jaanekyabaathai) December 18, 2021

Drvaid sahab is still fitter than Rohit and Pant. I wonder what's happening with pant, he is looking fatter and fatter after every series! I hope team assesses his fitness before it goes out of hand! https://t.co/qfuuKzPfDY

— ayaan. (@AyanMusk) December 18, 2021

View the full article