India head coach Rahul Dravid has wholeheartedly credited the domestic cricket system for providing a steady supply of talented players to the Indian team which has helped in seamless transition.
Dravid, who himself was part of the transition phase in the past, along with cricket legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, now oversees the process as the head coach.
Shubman Gill has taken the no.3 role occupied by Cheteshwar Pujara after the departure of Dravid, while 20-year-old left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal made the opening slot his own with a mature 171 on debut, in the first Test against the West Indies.
“It’s a tribute to the domestic system. It’s a tribute to the environment around the team that a lot of young players can come in and perform straight away. A lot of credit should go to the domestic system for producing these kinds of players, especially in the batting department, and also to the relaxed environment the team here has been able to create to allow young players to come and express themselves.
So it’s nice from our perspective as a coach to see young players come in, perform straightaway, and do 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,” Dravid said in a press conference on the eve of the second Test.
“So there’s been a lot of young players, we’ve seen even in one day and T20s, who’ve come through and done well. So yeah, credit to our domestic system, NCA, and a lot of other people who can make that possible for us,” he added.
Dravid also had a word of caution to the youngsters and said they would have to face stronger challenges ahead.
“I know that people like Jaiswal and Gill will be faced with other tougher challenges and more challenges as they go on and they play more cricket. You know, teams will start getting to know them better.
I think even in this Test, we’ll see the West Indies will probably come up with tactics and strategies. Having seen Jaiswal in the last Test match, they’ll respond to that and that’ll be the challenge for Jaiswal as well as to respond to the tactics and the strategies that the West Indies are going to come up with in this game,” Dravid said.
“Today, I think as a young player, once you get known and once you start performing well, teams start planning and preparing for you better, so you need to respond to that as well.
So looking forward to that, but excited to see his talent and to see how well he performed and just the way he adapted I was pleased to see that he was willing to play an attacking game when required but also knuckle down and be defensive and work hard for his runs when it’s required, and as a coach nothing pleases you more than that,” he added.
The second Test between the West Indies and India begins on July 20, 2023, in Trinidad.
(PTI inputs)
