One of the great coups Indian cricket snagged some three years back was getting Rahul Dravid on board as coach of the national U-19 and 'A' sides. The former skipper, blessed with unquestioned cricketing wisdom and nous, is also an excellent man-manager and the ideal life-skills teacher for his young charges who need more hand-holding — especially at the U-19 level — than those in the senior side.

During his period of apprenticeship, waiting for the India call-up that only came last October during the home Test series against West Indies, Mayank Agarwal spent plenty of time with Dravid on 'A' tours, feeding off the latter's experience and expertise.