Driven to lucrative contract

New Delhi: A chauffeur of a Bangalore-based watch company official has been instrumental in fetching Indian cricket team captain Rahul Dravid a lucrative three-year endorsement deal.

Hideaki Nakazaki, managing director of Citizen Watches India, disclosed yesterday that whenever his chauffeur passed by Dravid's house in Bangalore he said he was India's national hero.

"The choice of Dravid as a brand ambassador of Citizen Watches can be linked to traffic jams in Bangalore," Nakazaki said. "[During detours] every time he [the driver] passes Dravid's house, which is just about 300 metres from our office, he would say he is India's hero," he said with Dravid sitting beside him.

Then, said Nakazaki, he called all his salesmen and asked what if he made Dravid the company's bra-nd ambassador. They said the sales would "double".

"I was interested after the driver repeatedly said Dra-vid was 'our national hero'. I wanted to know his background etc."

Dravid, who spoke after Nakazaki, acknowledged the contribution of the unnamed driver. "I should start by thanking the driver first," he said with a big smile.