Rahul Dravid Advices Yuzvendra Chahal To ‘Play More Red Ball Cricket’

Legendary India cricketer and India A coach Rahul Dravid has advised Yuzvendra Chahal to focus on playing more red-ball cricket to gain experience in the longer format.

Chahal has done exceedingly well since becoming a permanent in the limited-overs team last year. The leg-spinner has formed a lethal combination with fellow wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Chahal has passed almost all the tests at international level so far. He impressed at home against the likes of New Zealand, England and Australia. Earlier this year, he was the second highest wicket-taker in the ODI series against South Africa.

But while he has matched Kuldeep Yadav’s exploits in white-ball cricket, he is yet to prove his Test credentials. Kuldeep has already played two Tests and impressed in both. The chinaman is currently in the India squad for the ongoing Test series in England. On the other hand, Chahal is perhaps not even in the frame to get a Test call.

But it seems the Indian selectors are keen on trying out the leg-spinner in the longest format of the game. As a result, they included him in the India A squad for the just-concluded four-day game against South Africa A.

India A won the game by an innings and 30 runs. But Chahal could not make much of an impact, picking up 1 wicket in each innings.

And Dravid now wants the leg-spinner to play red-ball cricket in order to hone his skills for the longer format of the game.

“Chahal is someone the Indian selectors are keen on and they want to see how he does in red-ball cricket because he has not played much. So, it is nice that we gave him a couple of chances and it has worked out nicely. So, the more Chahal plays red-ball cricket, the more experience he will gain. There is no doubt, as we see, that he had got skills, but he needs to play a lot more,” Dravid said after the win.

The former India skipper further expressed his delight over the development of players such as Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw. Agarwal scored a double century in the game while Shaw scored a century. Prior to that, both the players had impressed on the tour of England.

“I think they have shown over the last year or so with their performances that they are playing very good cricket. It’s nice to see them developing and growing as players. Whether there is an opportunity or not is not for me to decide. But they have played really well. Mayank Agarwal was quite exceptional in this game and Prithvi has shown continuous improvement in every level he has played,” he said.

Dravid also had some words of praise for Mohammad Siraj who bagged ten wickets in the game.

“I think maturity is one thing. Definitely, the way he has bowled in last three to four games for us in England and here has been absolutely terrific. He has taken 26 wickets in last three to four games. Also 10 here. He is maturing and bowling good, and also he is becoming stronger physically,” he said.

“For someone, who has not even played a lot of junior cricket coming up. He has not been really a part of the system. He has played 17 or 18 first class games. So, he is learning,” he added.