Team India Head coach Rahul Dravid said the players’ failure to show performance post the third day of the test match will be reviewed by the panel of the selection committee.
His comments came while addressing a press conference after India lost its fifth rescheduled test match against England at Edgbaston on Tuesday. While addressing the pressmen, he said the repeated failures of the batters in the third-innings of a Test match is a matter of concern and that they will sit with the national selectors to address the issue.
When asked about the plans to analyze the current scenario, he said he gave a glimpse of his humorous side.
“There is so much of cricket that we aren’t having any time to reflect. In two days, we will be talking to you about something entirely different,” the India coach said, cuing on the upcoming T20 International series slated to be held in between England and India on Friday.
“…But we will certainly try and reflect on this performance. Every match is a lesson for us and you tend to learn something. We have to reflect on why we aren’t able to bat well in the third innings of a Test match and why we aren’t able to take 10 wickets in the fourth innings,” he said on a serious note.
According to Dravid, India plays its last six games of the current World Test Championship cycle in the sub-continent and Dravid plans to sit with Chetan Sharma to analyze the shortcomings. Among the six test matches, two will be played in Bangladesh against Bangladesh and four in India with Australia.
“Now the next six test matches are in sub-continent, and our focus will be on those remaining games but obviously, coaches and selectors would sit down and analyze this defeat,” he said.
When asked about the reasons behind the current scenario on why the team is failing on day 4 and 5, he said there are numerous reasons for losing ‘sustained intensity’.
“The current team has been losing steam during the third and fourth innings of a match and it could be because of a variety of factors, including bowlers’ fitness over a passage of time. It is something that we need to look at and work on. We have been very good in the last few years being able to take those wickets but yeah we haven’t been able to do it over the last few months,” said Dravid.
When asked about Baseball, he said don’t know about ‘Bazball’ but England has been exceptional. “I don’t know what it is. The cricket they played for four Tests, chasing like this in the fourth innings doesn’t happen often in this country but the brand of cricket you play depends on players and their form. You can play positive (cricket) when you have form players,” Dravid said.
After Dravid took over as coach, India lost its last three overseas Test matches — two in South Africa and one in Birmingham, and the one against England in Edgbaston on Tuesday. In all these games, India failed to defend targets like 240, 212, and now 378.
