'Wouldn't be so Harsh to Judge Them, They're Being Picked on Merit': Rahul Dravid Backs Young Batters

Head coach Rahul Dravid has backed his young batters despite a below-par show in the first Test against England on spin-friendly conditions in Hyderabad. The Indian batters had a forgettable outing on Day 4 as they were bundled out for 202 in pursuit of 231 as the star-studded batting unit crumbled under pressure in front of English spinners as debutant Tom Hartley claimed a seven-wicket haul.

Shubman Gill, who had a wonderful run in white-ball cricket over the last year, faltered twice against England left-arm spinner Hartley in the first red-ball assignment of the year at home.

“I wouldn’t be so harsh to judge them. But it was a challenging wicket, and it’s been a bit of a challenge for some of our young batsmen to adapt. But you know, they’ve got the skill,” Dravid said in his post-match press meet.

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Dravid, former India captain, came in support of the young batters and said they are picked on merit after scoring big runs in the domestic circuit.

“They’ve come here by scoring a lot of runs in domestic cricket. They are being picked on merit. Sometimes it does take time for people to adjust. They’re working really hard and there’s a lot of thought going into their batting,” the coach said without taking names.

Every batter is unique and at this level, everyone needs to have their own methods to counter tougher challenges that lay ahead of them.

“It’s just a question of them looking to constantly improve and develop skills that may help them counter these kinds of conditions a little bit better,” said Dravid.

Not playing enough first-class games

With the jam-packed schedule of Indian cricket team, the young stars hardly get time to play first-class cricket.

Dravid thought the young batsmen’s minimal game time in First-Class was behind their travails.

“We’ve to get better as a lot of players are quite young. A lot of these guys do play a lot of white-ball cricket and maybe don’t get a lot of time to play First-Class cricket. So, they’re learning and I think they’re getting there,” Dravid said.

However, Dravid said the failure of some of the batsmen to convert that start did hurt India in the first innings.

India were bowled out for 420 in their first dig, and the Bengaluru man felt that they were probably 70-80 runs short.

“I thought we left probably 70 runs on the board in the first innings. Conditions were good to bat on day two and got some good starts but we didn’t really capitalise. We didn’t get a 100, you know, a really big hundred. The second innings is always going to be challenging,” he elaborated.

It wasn’t flat track but one could score runs

However, Dravid was not ready to blame the Hyderabad pitch for India’s troubles, and, if anything, his words were an exhortation for the younger batters to improve their craft.

“I wouldn’t say this was a flat wicket by any stretch of imagination. It was a good cricket wicket and it turned through the course of the game. It allowed you to score runs. As we saw, even in the fourth innings, you could score runs,” said Dravid.

Keeping faith in batters

The former India captain, however, said the team can make a turnaround and looked forward to a keenly contested series.

“Batsmen have bailed us out in a few games, in some close games that we’ve had recently. But not this time but a great series to look forward to now. We’ve fallen behind but we have to show some character and look forward to that.

“I thought 190 was a really good lead but then again, not many teams will come in and score 420 in the third innings in India and not many players will make 196,” he signed off.

(With Agency Inputs)