Former India skipper Rahul Dravid has been the coach of India ‘A’ and U-19 squads since last two years. As players from both the teams have got a chance to play in the senior team, this has paid rich dividends for India. Dravid asserts that he is trying to make the players better human beings as well.
Dravid acknowledged that that playing cricket and coaching cricketers are two different things and it isn’t necessary that a good cricketer, he will go on to become a good coach as well. During FICCI’s felicitation programmes for women cricketers Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, Rahul said, “I have really enjoyed coaching since the past two years and it has been a great learning experience. Playing is one thing and managing people is actually a different ball game altogether, but that is the beauty of coaching. One of my big focuses in trying to coach teams is that I don’t try to put an effort into coaching cricketers, but try to coach people as well. Since I have been through the journey of playing U19 cricket before, I do understand that they are under a lot of pressure and which is why I try to create a good team environment.”
Since taking the job of coaching the India U-19 team, Rahul has taken several steps to help youngsters to secure opportunities at the senior level and also let them free up space for more cricketers. Talking about the same, he said, “When I took over the U-19 coach, one of the things I felt was that people stay on and play too much of U-19 cricket. Which I think is very dangerous so we took a decision of not allowing anyone to play more than one World Cup. Guys like Washington Sundar, Zeeshan Ansari, Mahipal Lomror have all been picked in their respective Ranji Trophy teams. Their mindset and horizon are increasing.”
Talking about recognition from the Indian selectors for the players like Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, Dravid said, “Their performances are being recognized by the selectors. We are having more A team matches to bridge that gap between domestic cricket and international cricket. We have already seen four of our boys from the team have got into the national side, which is a great thing. But sometimes it is hard to break into such a successful team (like the present Indian squad) and they need to wait for their opportunities.”
Recently, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had spoken about players’ burnout due to constant cricket and there were rumors that he may be rested for the whole of Sri Lankan limited-overs series in order to keep him fresh for the South African tour. Speaking about the same, Dravid said, “Rotations are needed. There are a lot of matches being played, so you need to rotate the players. I think the management is taking right decision (in terms of rotating the players). Everyone needs rest. When and which series (Kohli will take) rest will be decided by the team management, physios and physical trainers (after discussing with the player). Probably currently he doesn’t need rest. I don’t know why there is so much of discussion and controversy.”
When asked about the new league system that the ICC is planning for ODI and Test cricket, Dravid replied, “I think having the context to especially ODI cricket and series is really important and sometimes in tri-series and bilateral series it can get a bit difficult to generate that level of context. If it creates that level of interest and context in bilateral series it will be a good thing.”
But, Dravid did say that the impact of new rules including the restrictions on bat sizes can be assessed only after some time. He said, “A change in the size will have an impact and the results of the games will show the effect. Though the change won’t be too drastic as only a few players use such bats. However, it is also about the nature of the pitch and the size of the boundary that matter.”
Captain of India women’s cricket team Mithali Raj and fast bowler Jhulan Goswami also joined Dravid for an event in Delhi and Dravid said that both of them have been pioneers for women’s cricket in India. He said, “It is great to see just the direction in which it is going. It is fantastic to see that kind of energy being built up about women sports and it has come about because of women like Mithali and Jhulan, who have been the inspiration for this generation. Young girls coming through now have the role models and they don’t need to look up to Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar anymore. They can look up to these girls as their idols .”
