We Don't Get These Kinds Of Conditions Very Often In T20 Cricket - Rahul Dravid Asks Youngsters To Learn To Make Runs On Difficult Pitches
Published - 30 Jul 2021, 12:33 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:50 AM
India‘s head coach on the Sri Lanka tour Rahul Dravid has called for the young Indian batsmen to gain experience and learn the art of scoring runs on difficult batting pitches, such as the ones they faced at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on their recently-concluded tour of Sri Lanka.
The pitches in the three T20Is especially were offering plenty of turn, were slow, assisting the hosts’ bowling attack as Sri Lanka eventually defeated India in the T20I series – their first bilateral T20I series win over India – on Thursday.
The inexperienced Indian batters failed to read the spin of the ball and surrendered themselves against a decent Sri Lankan attack.
Rahul Dravid said this experience will help the batsmen in reflecting back on their game. Though the head coach acknowledged that the players have rarely faced such conditions in T20 cricket, they will have to learn to bat on such surfaces.
“They would have liked to score a few more runs. They now have an opportunity to reflect that not all wickets are going to be flat. We need to find ways to scrap and score 130, 140 on these wickets. It’s really a good learning as they are all young players. This is a great opportunity to reflect on these performances and may be come up with some slightly better strategies,” Rahul Dravid said after the third T20I.
“Let me be fair, we don’t get these kind of conditions very often in T20 cricket but when you do, I think, you have responsibility to play slightly better. I don’t think the talent is missing it’s just that you need experience to figure out a few more stroke making options in these kinds of pitches,” he added.
We have a really good crop of spinners: Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid further hailed the performances of Indian spinners on the tour. Senior leg-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav showed signs of a return to form while young spinners Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy continued to impress and stake a claim for a place in the T20 World Cup squad.
“We have a really good crop of spinners who are coming through. Heartening to see how our four spinners performed and even stand-by spinner Sai Kishore is a really good bowler,” Rahul Dravid said.
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