Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has praised the young Indian batters, despite their struggles against England in the opening Test of the five-match series in Hyderabad. On Day 4, the Indian batters were bowled out for 202 while chasing 231, as the star-studded batting squad crumbled under pressure against the untested England spinners.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (15) got off to a slow start and appeared hesitant at the crease before being removed by Tom Hartley. Shubman Gill was also dismissed in the same over for a two-ball duck, continuing his poor form. Indian captain Rohit Sharma played well and kept India in contention for a while with his 39-run innings.
However, things went from bad to worse for India as the rest of the batsmen played cautiously and were eventually dismissed. The lower-order batsmen fought hard, but England eventually bowled India out for 202, securing a remarkable win.
At the post-match press conference, Rahul Dravid defended the young batsmen and stated that it is unfair to judge them based on their performance on difficult wickets. He believes they have the skillset to succeed at the highest level and will improve quickly and also stated that the young batsmen are chosen on merit after scoring big runs in the domestic circuit.
“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.”
“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,” Rahul Dravid said.
Despite scoring a strong 436 in their first innings, as many as five batsmen scored over 40 but failed to reach three figures. While India still had a 190-run advantage, the wasted opportunity to score more runs proved costly, as they failed to chase 231 in the final innings, losing by 28 runs.
It’s Just A Question Of Them Looking To Constantly Improve And Develop Skills – Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid believes that every batsman is unique and must devise techniques to overcome the challenges that lay ahead at this level and also said that the young batsmen’s troubles were caused by a lack of First-Class game time due to white-ball schedules.
“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.”
“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,” Rahul Dravid added.
After England scored a mammoth 420 in their second innings, India was under immense pressure to chase down a difficult score on a worn-out Hyderabad track. However, no Indian batsman managed to score a half-century, with skipper Rohit Sharma scoring the highest at 39 before KS Bharat And Ravichandran Ashwin showed a valiant fight. The Men In Blue are currently trailing the series 0-1 against the mighty English side.
