WATCH: Ex-UK PM Rishi Sunak reveals India legend Rahul Dravid was among his favourite players growing up

Rishi Sunak, the former United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister, was speaking recently at the NDTV World Summit 2025, and when the question surrounding cricket came around, his eyes lit up. The 45-year-old,

who was the UK PM for the better part of two years from 2022 to 2024, revealed that one of his favourite players while growing up was India legend Rahul Dravid, who has earned massive accolades in world cricket both as a player and coach during his professional career thus far.

The conversation during the summit turned to cricket when one of the hosts asked Rishi Sunak about which country he cheers for when England and India play each other, and the response from the politician was crisp and to the point. He said, “I am obviously cheering for England but I have a soft spot for India, as you can imagine,” showcasing the best possible way to navigate the thin line to not offend his country and native land of his parents at the same time.

Watch the video here:

After stating his love for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and home team Southampton in English football, Rishi Sunak talked about what cricket means to his constituency before turning the conversation to Rahul Dravid. He remarked, “My constituency in England is in Yorkshire which is probably the most cricket-mad part of the UK. I have been fortunate with that.”

“There is cricket in every part of my life. One of my favourite players growing up was Rahul Dravid. I tried copying his brilliant technique,” the politician added.

Cricket in Olympics is purely and simply because of India’s new power and status in the world: Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak also applauded India for becoming an “economic superpower” before giving a “different example” to prove it, stating that cricket got elevated to Olympics in nearly a century due to the sheer volume of people enjoying it across the country. He said, “For the first in I think about a 100 years, in 2028, cricket is going to be an Olympic sport again, and now that is purely and simply because of India’s new power and status in the world, and of course there is an economic aspect to that because the broadcast rights are economically important."

Cricket will be a part of the Los Angeles (LA) Olympic Games 2028 in which six teams are expected to compete across two weeks to crown a new gold medal winner in both the men’s and women’s category.