Rahul Dravid opens up on Indian team transition as young players like Yashasvi and Shubman are showcasing their performances on the WI tour 2023.
Youngsters on Indian Team Transition
Rahul Dravid speaks about the first Indian team Transition in 2008 when Sourav Ganguly retired. At that time, MS Dhoni had taken over captaincy from Anil Kumble.
Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman retired in 2012, making way for Pujara and Virat Kohli. It happened before Sachin Tendulkar’s exit in 2013.
Rahul Dravid has now seen another transition in the Indian team. This time he sees the transition as a head coach as he spends more time with the Indian team.
Cheteshwar Pujara replaced Rahul Dravid’s place as India’s no.3 batsman of the last decade. Shubman Gill has flourished as an age-group cricketer under Rahul Dravid.
The young left-hand batter Yashasvi Jaiswal has been performing well in recent days. Rohit Sharma believes he could serve Indian cricket for a long time.
Yashasvi Jaiswal made his debut in the West Indies tour in Dominica last week with 171 runs in India’s massive win on the 1st Test. India has opened its victory in its 2023-25 WTC cycle.
Rahul Dravid was not surprised about Yashasvi’s performance in WI test saying, “willing to play an attacking game when required but also knuckle down and be defensive, work hard for his runs when needed.”
Rahul Dravid had spoken about the second test on Wednesday saying, “It’s a tribute to the domestic system.” “It’s a tribute to the environment around the team that a lot of young players are able to come in and perform straight away.
A lot of credit should go to the domestic system for producing this kind of players, especially in the batting department, and also 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 really 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.
So there’s been a lot of young players, we’ve seen even in one day and T20s, who’ve come through and done really well. So yeah, credit to our domestic system, NCA, and a lot of other people who can make that possible for us.”
Dravid says there could be more challenging matches which will lead to growth. “I know people like Jaiswal and Gill will be faced with tougher challenges as they go on and play more cricket,” Dravid said.
“Teams will get to know them better. Even in this Test, we’ll see the West Indies probably come up with tactics and strategies having seen Jaiswal in the last Test match, and they’ll respond to that.
“The challenge for Jaiswal is to respond to the tactics and strategies West Indies are going to come up with in this game.
Because today, as a young player, once you get known, 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 really excited to see his talent, how well he performed.
Just the way he adapted, was really 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 required. As a coach, nothing pleases you more than that.”
Second Test on West Indies
India and West Indies will mark their 100th Test as the two sides meet with India leading the series with 1-0. India vs West Indies 2nd Test will be played from 20th July onwards at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
After the game at the Queen’s Park Oval, India play their next Test only on the tour of South Africa in December-January.
