Chance to reflect that not all wickets will be flat, says Dravid

‘We need to find ways to scrap and score 130, 140 on these surfaces’

July 30, 2021 10:58 pm | Updated 10:58 pm IST - Colombo

Not the ideal end:  Rahul Dravid and Shikhar Dhawan would have hoped the team to sign off with a better result.

Not the ideal end: Rahul Dravid and Shikhar Dhawan would have hoped the team to sign off with a better result.

Rahul Dravid believes that the new crop of Indian batsmen will learn with experience that “not all wickets will be flat” and they need to develop the art of scrapping it out on low-scoring tracks like the ones on offer during the last two T20Is against Sri Lanka.

India lost the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka 1-2 on Thursday, playing without nine of its first team players due to COVID-19 related isolation.

Found wanting

Rookies Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana, along with Sanju Samson, literally struggled against a quality spin bowling attack led by leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.

Asked if he was disappointed in the manner the younger players were found wanting against Hasaranga and company, the head coach replied in the negative.

“I am not disappointed as they are young. They are going to learn and get better only when they are exposed to these kind of conditions and quality of bowling. Sri Lankan team’s bowling attack is an international bowling attack,” Dravid said while assessing the overall performance in the series.

But the former India captain did admit that there is lot to learn on how to play on challenging tracks, saying pitches in domestic cricket have become easier to bat as compared to his times.

“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,” Dravid observed after seeing the Ranas and the Padikkals struggle on a Premadasa track where ball wasn’t coming on to the bat.

“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.

“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,” Dravid said.

Dravid said even his generation had their share of struggles but he feels during their times, they did play on tracks that offered turn and some were “under-prepared.” “I think the wickets in domestic cricket may have got better -- one thing that is probably different when I was sort of starting while growing up the wickets tended to turn a little bit more.

“Honestly some of the wickets we used to play used to be under-prepared but wickets have got a bit better in Ranji Trophy which is great. 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 opined.

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