New Delhi, June 7: Success of Indian players as captains in a tournament like IPL will eventually benefit the national team since leadership role helps in accelerating the growth of cricketers, head coach Rahul Dravid said on Tuesday.
Hardik Pandya led Gujarat Titans to title in its maiden season while KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Sanju Samson too did a commendable job while leading their respective franchises in the IPL.
Rahul led new entrants Lucknow Super Giants to the playoffs in their maiden season and Samson impressed with his captaincy as he took Rajasthan Royals to a runners-up finish this season.
“It is great that we have a lot of Indian captains doing well. Hardik was one of them. Brilliant. KL did a good job at LSG and Sanju in RR. Shreyas in KKR,” Dravid said at a press conference.
“It is really great to see the young batters leading the team. It helps people grow and develop as players, having to lead teams to make the decisions. It helps you grow as a person and as a player.
“It is great from our perspective that the younger Indian players are leading well in the IPL,” he added.
India are set to lock horns with South Africa in a five-match T20 series starting here on Thursday.
Several new faces have been named in the Indian squad while the series is also set to feature Pandya and Dinesh Karthik, who make a comeback after stellar IPL campaigns.
Pandya, who struggled with a back and was dropped from the team after team’s disappointing group-round exit from the T20 World Cup last year, returned to competitive cricket in the IPL.
He played a key role in Titans’ success, contributing with the bat and the ball, something that the Indian team had missed desperately during the World Cup last year.
“It is really pleasing to have him back. Hardik at his best is a fantastic cricketer with both bat and ball. He’s been very successful in white-ball cricket and has shown some really good form in this IPL as well,” Dravid said.
The former Indian cricketer was impressed by the Baroda player’s captaincy skills, adding that they are working at utilising Pandya’s full potential for India.
“His leadership was very impressive in the IPL and he performed well. You don’t have to be designated as a leader to be part of the leadership group.
“At this point of time from our perspective it is a positive that he has started bowling again. It is really about ensuring that we can get the best out of him as a cricketer in terms of contributions,” Dravid said.
‘We know our top
three’s quality’
The troika of skipper Rohit Sharma, Rahul and the peerless Virat Kohli might have faced a lot of flak for their dated T20 batting approach but Dravid understands their quality and expects them to give “good, positive starts” going into the World Cup.
Rohit, Rahul and Kohli’s approach in the powerplay overs during the last World T20 came under the scanner but Dravid gave clear hints that he is in no mood to tinker with the top three even though regular skipper and the team’s No. 1 batter have been rested from the series against South Africa.
“We know our top three’s quality. They are top class. There will be a slightly different top three in this series but what we are looking for (in general) is good positive start and playing according to the situation,” said Dravid.
Rahul and Kohli have faced some criticism for their powerplay strike-rate and while the coach didn’t take names, he did mention the necessity for an improved strike-rate.
“If it’s a high-scoring game, then obviously you want your players to maintain the strike-rate. If wicket is more challenging, then they have to respond to that as well,” he added.
He believes that role clarity will be paramount and might be different from what players are used in their respective IPL franchises.
“In general, in T20 you want people to play positively and these people do that. As I said their roles might be slightly different to what we expect of them.
“We will be giving them a lot of clarity as to what their roles are. And I’m confident anyone in the top three will be able to play the role according to the situation of the match,” he added.
Need to ensure that Rohit
stays fit for big tourneys
The head coach made it clear that it is unrealistic to expect an all-format player like Rohit to play in every series.
So is it difficult to give regular captain rest from time to time.
“It’s not difficult at all,” he replied.
“(KL) Rahul has captained before, we are clear on a lot of things. Rohit is an all-format player and it is unrealistic to expect all (all format players) to be available for every series,” he said.
“We need to ensure that they are fit for all the big tournaments and are peaking then. We also have the Test match in the UK spilling from last year and we need to ensure we have the best side,” Dravid said.
“With the kind of busy schedule we have there are times we need to rest our big players. It gives youngsters opportunities and increase the depth of our squad,” he elaborated.
The key is to maintain the perfect balance, ‘The Wall’ said.
“It is balance between managing the workload of some of the players, especially who have been a part of all three formats of the game for us in the last six months. We will do that over the next six months.
“We have rested a few players, that’s part of thee process. We’ll continue to do that for a little bit till the T20 world Cup, till we freeze everyone. It is important to manage people through a very busy calendar,” he said. (PTI)
