Dravid’s credentials are a batsman of pedigree needs no mention. As a batsman, he transcended every bowler and every condition to not only make a name for himself but he held aloft the Indian flag for a very longtime. The Durban innings, the Headingley innings, the Adelaide innings will all stand the test of time. However, can the same be said of Dravid the head coach? I doubt it. Unfortunately, Dravid’s resume as a coach is not one that will inspire any confidence in a prospective employer. His latest comments about the youngsters in the team and about Virat Kohli adds to this assessment. Rahul Dravid and his latest comments. Dravid does not always make sense.
Let me start off with Kohli
“You don’t have to say anything, just by the way you conduct yourself, the way you carry yourself, the way you go about practice and about your fitness, it’s an inspiration to a lot of players coming through the system. Hopefully, they follow that and they are inspired like Virat to play so many games. Longevity comes with a lot of hard work, discipline, adaptability and he’s shown all of that. Long may it continue.”
Dravid talks about Kohli’s longevity. Yes, it is admirable. Kohli is a fitness freak. Ever since he chose to maintain a strict diet all those years ago, he has remained exceptionally fit. He could count only a couple of instances where he missed games because of injury. Otherwise, he chose to take a break or was rested.
Now, maintaining peak fitness is onething but scoring runs is completely another thing. That is where Kohli is currently struggling. It has been 4 years since he has played any meaningful innings. In white ball, he suddenly reeled off 5 centuries but his red-ball consistency is worrying. Not to mention that he is among the aged players in the team who are all likely to leave at the sametime thereby leaving a huge void.
The worry is that, Kohli seems to be given a rather lengthy rope and non-performance does not really matter. Throughout his Test career, Kohli has never won a Test while chasing in the 4th innings despite multiple opportunities. It is always safe to discount Kohli when it comes to 4th innings chase. Tendulkar was much the same throughout his career and towards the end of it, he got one opportunity against England and utilised it.
Slight personnel change but results remain the same
No other batsman has been persisted with despite years of low scores like Kohli. It is onething to talk about his longevity but what is that longevity adding value to the team in the present scenario must be thoroughly analysed. It is hightime Kohli starts pulling up his socks. If he is unable to score a couple of 100s against West Indies, what hope does he have of doing well in South Africa later this year? Already, we have Shubman Gill who is not utilising his talent to its full capacity. India just cannot have another low-performing batsman. The personnel has changed, slightly but the middle order woes continues. What has Dravid done to address this problem? What was the need to recall Rahane in the first place and make him vice-captain based on the evidence of just one innings? Ashwin would have been a better choice for vice-captain.
Next, Dravid on the youngsters
Dravid, “So it’s nice from our perspective as a coach to see young players come in, perform straightaway and do really well, whether it’s Yashasvi in the last game or the way Shubman has grown over the last six-eight months or seeing the way Ishan [Kishan] came in and kept in the last game on a difficult wicket, he did a really good job. So there’s been a lot of young players, we’ve seen even in one days and T20s, who’ve come through and done really well. So yeah, credit to our domestic system, NCA and a lot of other people who can make that possible for us.”
This comment makes me wonder whether Dravid is really with the Indian team or some other side. Agreed that Yashasvi scored a huge hundred on his Test debut but this was against the West Indies and on a pretty slow pitch that tested the patience of not only the players but the spectators too. Much sterner examination awaits these youngsters in South Africa. Yashasvi will be up against the likes of Rabadda, Nortje, Jansen & Ngidi. Does Dravid think that Jaiswal will be able to negotiate the extreme pace of Nortje, the accuracy of Rabadda and the steepling bounce of Jansen?
What about Shubman Gill? This talented cricketer far too often deceives everyone. For his obvious range of shots, has he really done justice to it? Perhaps, in trying to mould him into a T20 cricketer, he has lost his Test ability. Sometime ago, there was an article in Wisden stating that Gill will be at home in ODIs. I disagreed and wrote that he will be much more suited for Tests. Perhaps, Wisden is correct.
Wrapping up
Dravid will have to reserve all his judgements until these youngsters have performed consistently across all the conditions.
