A second Indian team is in Sri Lanka for a series of limited over games. Dravid, one of the great Indian batsmen, is the coach of that team. It has got a mixture of both experience and youth. Dravid has worked with most of these players at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore as well as on “A” tours. It will not be an understatement to state that many of these players were nurtured by Dravid. In the light of such a scenario, it is only apt that he was chosen as the coach of this Indian team. Shubnam Gill who is with the senior Indian team in England is injured and the team management have asked for both Shaw & Padikkal, who are in Sri Lanka as replacement for the injured Gill. However, Dravid has refused. Let me examine Indian team’s request and Dravid’s refusal in detail.
What happened to Shubnam Gill?
Apparently, Shubnam Gill injured his leg even before the WTC finals and he did not inform the team management about it. It remains to be seen whether any disciplinary action will be taken against him for hiding the injury. That is for another day. It has come to light now and as such he is ruled out of the England tour. In normal situation, it is alright for a team to ask for replacement because usually only 15 players will travel. These are not ordinary circumstances. We are all in the middle of a pandemic. With bio-secure bubble and strict rules for players to move around, touring teams nowadays take along 20 players to cover for all eventuality.
What was the team management’s request?
The team management and to be precise, Virat Kohli, the Indian captain, wanted Prithvi Shaw & Devdutt Padikkal as replacement. Dravid has refused to release any of them. As a coach of an Indian team, he has a responsibility to ensure that his team performs and wins all the games. To do that, he will have to ensure that he has the best possible combination. If Shaw & Padikkal are in that combination so be it. He is justified in not releasing either of them.
It is understandable if Kohli had asked for one batsman but to ask for 2 does not really make any sense. Remember, the team in England already has 4 openers in the form of Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul & Easwaran.
Rahul in the middle order
Reports have now emerged that Kohli considers Rahul as a middle order batsman and is keen to give him a chance in the middle order but BCCI is not aware.
“The team management has to be clear about its vision. The selectors have always heeded to the team management’s demands when it came to composition of the squad. The team was picked in presence of captain Virat Kohli. The management needed to be clear about its plan when it came to how they wanted to use the players who were picked. Rahul was picked as an opener. If they had a change of plans, they should have communicated it clearly,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
Four openers must be sufficient enough for a 5 test series. The team management does not seem to have much confidence in Easwaran. If that is the case, why did Kohli even agree for him to be in the squad? We must remember that the squad is not the usual 15. It is a jumbo squad of 24 players. If Shaw is not good enough to be in a wider squad of 24, he certainly isn’t good enough to play again at the international level so soon after the disastrous Australian tour.
What has Prithvi Shaw done to be recalled?
Prithvi Shaw, who after his blazing debut has really found international cricket tough. He struggled in New Zealand though he scored a 50. Then, he went to Australia and he became a walking wicket. His technique was so poor for the Australian pitches, which by the way aren’t that bouncy as before. He got out to poor shots and was getting bowled to straight balls. He was dropped after the first test and replaced with Shubnam Gill. After Australia, Prithvi Shaw found himself out of the England series and went onto to play a series of limited over games in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He scored bucket full of runs in that tournament. It was ironic that as soon as he left Australia and played a few games in India, his form and his run scoring ability returned. It goes onto show the quality of the tournament itself.
Then he played in the IPL where he again scored runs. This time against slightly better bowlers. However, IPL is still T20 cricket and no substitute for test cricket. So, in the interim between being dropped in Australia and now, all he has done his play in a series of limited over games. He never got the time or the place to work on his skill and improve his batting against good bowling on challenging pitches. Taking him over to England against the likes of Archer, Anderson and Broad is nonsense. Leave alone them. Even a Chris Jordan will fancy his chances of getting a wicket if he bowls to Shaw at this point in time.
Devdutt Padikkal
Yes, Padikkal is an impressive young fellow. He has all the shots on the book. He is certainly one for the future. It may not be long before the Indian test team sees Padikkal opening with Gill. However, now is not the time. He does not have the experience to handle English conditions. His time will come but not now.
Dravid as the head coach
Dravid is perhaps one among the very few who has the guts to standup to Kohli. Now that he has stood up, it is highly unlikely that Dravid will ever become the head coach of the first Indian team. Not until Kohli remains the captain. Having said that, I do not think Dravid should ever be the coach of the senior team. His role is with the youngsters. He can make a much bigger contribution towards Indian cricket by working with the youth. He can inculcate the right attitude in the budding cricketers rather than listening to the whining of the older ones.
Dravid has already shown that he isn’t much interested in management unlike his so called contemporaries like Ganguly, Tendulkar and Laxman who went straight into management at the first chance. They were part of a committee called Cricket Advisory Committee with much fanfare and no one knows what was their contribution to that committee. Whether that committee is still active is a million dollar question.
Dravid rejected that offer and he started to work with the upcoming cricketers. That is his greatness and that is what is prefers to do. It will be better for Indian cricket if Dravid is left alone and not dragged into the messy world of Indian cricket head coach.
Other reads. Rahul Dravid considers series win in Sri Lanka to be much more important