- 3 years ago
India coach Rahul Dravid on huge World Cup clash between the unbeaten hosts and unbeaten New Zealand
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00:00 He is an important player for us and an important all-rounder so he helps us really balance
00:13 our squad out really well.
00:18 But he is going to be missing this game so we will have to work around that and see what
00:23 is the best combination and what we can come up with best.
00:34 In the end we have got to work with the 14 that we have got.
00:40 Sometimes you do expect that these kind of things can happen so that is why you have
00:46 got a squad and we will have to see what works best for these conditions and these wickets.
00:53 But yeah, probably might not have the kind of balance that we probably used in the first
00:58 four games.
00:59 Q. I have a two-part question.
01:04 One is, in most of the games so far, the Indian spinners have been able to choke the opposition
01:09 out.
01:10 Do you guys have also observed that the opposition batters have been a little circumspect and
01:15 not put the spinners under pressure?
01:17 And B, in terms of the opposition's quality to play spin, is this India's biggest challenge
01:23 so far, at least from facing the spin point of view?
01:26 I wouldn't really want to focus much on the opposition players.
01:30 I would really like to compliment the role of our spinners.
01:34 I think they have done a fantastic job.
01:37 I think the way the three of them bowled in the first game and then obviously we played
01:43 with Kuldeep and Jadeja in the next three games.
01:49 But just the way they bowled and like you said, rightly, the way they have been able
01:52 to bring us back into games, control games, take wickets, bring the run rate down, has
01:58 been more I think down to their skill and their ability.
02:02 It's nice for us to have both of them in the last three games, a lot of experience, different
02:10 skills as well, even though both of them are left-arm spinners.
02:15 They are obviously different kinds of left-handed bowlers, left-arm spinners.
02:20 So that gives us variation, gives us different angles that they bowl at.
02:25 So yeah, big credit to them and also just the bowling coaches working with them to really
02:36 ensure that they have been bowling really well.
02:38 I thought Rohit has done a great job of handling them really well and working out the right
02:43 ends, some really good field placings as well.
02:47 So yes, I think all in all, we have done a really good job and hopefully we can keep
02:51 it going.
02:52 Q. Rahul, there are some reports about the wickets, whether it's an Australian or Pakistani
03:08 match.
03:09 There's been a comment on the wicket from the ICC.
03:10 How do you see it?
03:11 We have taken out runs and we have also made runs.
03:12 We never talk about wickets.
03:13 So as a coach, how do you see it?
03:14 I will definitely respectfully disagree with the average rating given for those two wickets.
03:33 I think they were good wickets.
03:39 Hopefully I will answer this in English because I might get myself into trouble by saying
03:46 something.
03:48 So no, I think if you only want to see 350 matches and rate only those wickets as good,
04:03 then I disagree with that.
04:06 I think you have to see different skills on display as well.
04:12 If we wanted to see only 4s and 6s being hit, then we have T20 for that.
04:21 Why do we need anything else?
04:24 So I really think that there are different skills involved in one-day cricket.
04:29 It's not only about hitting 4s and 6s.
04:33 There is a skill of rotating the strike, being able to play spin well.
04:39 If only wickets we have seen 350, 330 chases, 370, 350 today, we have played on good wickets
04:48 as well where honestly in Delhi or in Pune, probably 350+ wickets as well.
04:55 If only those are good wickets, then why are the bowlers here?
05:00 Why have spinners at all for that matter?
05:04 If you all want spinners to come in and bowl 1060 and go so that you can watch 4s and 6s
05:09 and one ball spins or two balls spin and you rate that as average, I disagree with that
05:16 because I think we should see all skills on display.
05:18 The ability to rotate strike through the middle, we see the quality of watching Jadeja bowl
05:24 or Santner bowl or Zampa bowl or watching Kane Williamson rotate the strike through
05:28 the middle, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul the way they batted against Australia, those are skills
05:33 as well.
05:34 Those also need to come out and be shown and be displayed.
05:39 Some of the wickets even we have played and honestly in Delhi and Pune rotating the strike
05:42 in the middle wasn't necessarily a very difficult skill.
05:46 The contest was about who could hit more 4s and 6s.
05:50 That's not the only way in my opinion, respectfully, to be able to judge wickets.
05:56 I think we need to have a better way of deciding what is good and average.
06:02 So I give you an example, I don't know what the rating was for those wickets but we played
06:09 the T20 World Cup in Australia.
06:12 In Perth we played a game 138 plays 138, India plays South Africa, seeming and swinging all
06:16 over the place.
06:17 That's a T20 game.
06:18 I don't know what rating was given to that.
06:23 Maybe I hope that was rated average as well.
06:26 World Cup, World T20 final, Pakistan plays England.
06:31 Again 130 scored in a T20 game.
06:34 I am not complaining about that.
06:35 I think it's good, it's great.
06:37 That game wicket at Perth was good.
06:38 It challenged different skills.
06:40 It brought different skills out in display.
06:43 And I am saying this even though we have lost those games.
06:45 So that's no problem with that.
06:48 Sometimes wickets will turn a bit, sometimes they will seem a bit, they will swing a bit,
06:52 they will bounce a bit.
06:54 All we want to see is sixes and fours being hit in 350 scores as good wickets then I disagree.
06:59 Raman, I just want to know your thoughts on this.
07:06 How do you see in this World Cup, like you mentioned 350 scores, I was about to ask you
07:13 that whether that is really fair enough for judgement of skills.
07:18 So in a tournament, I just want to see variety.
07:21 I mean yes, there are sometimes there will be some good wickets in a tournament.
07:24 There will be sometimes 350 scored and games that go at high scoring.
07:29 There will be sometimes wickets where the ball turns, brings the spinners into play.
07:32 There will be other wickets where it might seem a little bit.
07:35 You have got a long tournament, you are playing in India, different parts of the country.
07:38 There will be different wickets, different challenges.
07:42 Teams that are able to cope with all of those challenges and deal with that are the ones
07:46 that will end up being successful.
07:48 We as a team have to be able to focus on that and work with that.
07:52 You want to standardize everything and make every wicket a 350 wicket.
07:58 And there are very good skills on display even in a 350 plus wicket.
08:01 Yes, we see some great hitting, we see some terrific shots being played and all that.
08:06 But other skills get missed out.
08:07 That is fine on that particular day.
08:09 But the first few games, when it spins a little bit or something happens, it brings the bowlers
08:15 into the game.
08:16 So, rating them as average, where does it leave the bowlers?
08:20 Why are they coming then?
08:21 If all we want to see is four, we have T20, play two T20 matches then.
08:27 Rahul, during your playing days, you have kept wickets in ODIs and batted.
08:31 When your primary vocation was batting, your namesake is doing the same thing now.
08:36 How difficult is it as a role?
08:39 It is certainly not easy.
08:42 I think he is doing a fantastic job of it.
08:44 I thought Rahul has really kept superbly in this tournament and then batted really well
08:49 whenever he has got the opportunity to do that, especially in the first game.
08:54 But I think it is challenging because for someone like him, who having had that experience
09:01 myself, he is not someone who keeps regularly at all.
09:04 But he has probably kept a little bit more than I have.
09:06 As a youngster, he kept probably up to his under-19 days and has kept in a few T20 games
09:11 as well for Karnataka and all that.
09:13 So, he kept a little bit more than I did, but certainly not easy considering he was
09:18 also out with injury for four or five months.
09:23 When we first decided that he would keep and we wanted to have that kind of option with
09:27 him as one of the options of being able to keep and bat in the middle order, we thought
09:34 we would build him up to this tournament by giving him game time and building him up.
09:37 But unfortunately, due to his injury, he actually could not keep for a while.
09:43 But the way he has come back, the way he has worked hard, even in his injury, he worked
09:47 really hard when he started getting back to skills.
09:50 He spent a lot of time with the wicket-keeping and worked really hard on it.
09:54 So, I thought he has kept really well in this thing and it has been really good to see.
09:58 It certainly gives us a lot of confidence in him and his ability.
10:05 How much will the role of Shardul Thakur change given that now Hardik is not available for
10:22 this game?
10:23 Without going into too much of specifics, and it is hard to go into a lot of specifics
10:29 in a PC, but Shardul's role was to be that kind of bowling all-rounder for us.
10:35 In the games that he played, we saw him as someone who certainly has a happy knack of
10:42 taking wickets as we have seen, and then bowling those middle overs for us and being like a
10:47 fourth seeming option for us on certain wickets, which would probably require that fourth seeming
10:52 option.
10:53 And plus, obviously, he has not had a chance to really bat a lot over the last bit, but
10:58 certainly he has been working very hard in the nets, which is batting, and we have been
11:01 working very hard on it.
11:02 We have seen that he has the ability to hit some big shots and play some good shots.
11:08 Of course, we have seen it more probably in test cricket, not so much in one-day cricket
11:11 as yet, because like I said, he has not had the opportunity to bat much.
11:15 But certainly that was the kind of role that he fitted in for us in that bowling all-rounder's
11:20 role.
11:21 Obviously, with Hardik not being there and Hardik sort of being one of those four seamers,
11:25 we will just have to see with the combination we can go with.
11:28 We certainly can go with, obviously, the three fast bowlers or the three spinners.
11:34 With that kind of combination, we still could play him and play Ash and move Jadeja up.
11:40 Many different, different permutations and combinations I would not want to give too
11:43 much away.
11:44 I mean, we are pretty clear on what our playing XI is tomorrow, but I would not want to be
11:48 giving too much away.
11:49 But yes, I think there are different, different combinations we could come up with.
11:52 Obviously, the three seamers, having someone like Shami sitting out there and bringing
11:56 him in this game is a great option.
11:58 Some cases, there is Ash Ashwin who has obviously been sitting out, who has great quality as
12:03 well.
12:04 So, yes, there are two or three combinations we could use considering this till Hardik
12:08 gets back.
12:09 Q. How much of a factor, Ishan being a left-hander against New Zealand's left-arm spinners,
12:17 will that be a factor as well?
12:19 And also that he has played the first two games as opposed to someone like Surya, who
12:23 has not played yet.
12:24 How much of a factor is that?
12:25 I mean, it is nice to have Ishan and he has been, like you said, rightly he has been playing
12:30 well.
12:31 He is a left-hander.
12:32 But again, Surya has also come into some great form against Australia, as we saw, played
12:36 a couple of fantastic innings.
12:38 Absolutely fantastic player against spin, as we know, left-arm spin or off-spin or any
12:42 kind of spin for that matter.
12:45 And plus, the role may be for a middle-over's role.
12:47 So we will just have to see which one we want to…
12:50 We are pretty clear about the kind of roles that people can play.
12:52 So if we are looking for someone who might be, look to be a bit of an enforcer for us
12:58 in the lower middle-order, then Surya is certainly someone who can do that.
13:00 If we are looking for someone a little bit higher up the order, then maybe we might go
13:04 with Ishan.
13:05 So it just depends on what we are looking at.
13:08 Rahul, up till now, the matches you have played, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Pune, all were
13:13 hot.
13:14 How much do the conditions change here, especially the temperature has dropped.
13:20 How important is the dew factor and how important is the toss after that?
13:25 Look, the dew factor is important.
13:28 I mean, there is dew in this.
13:30 There is nothing to hide in this.
13:32 You know that if you come to Dharamshala, the temperature is cold, so dew will definitely
13:39 come.
13:40 And dew is a factor.
13:43 But you cannot think about it.
13:45 You have to keep in mind that dew can come and what tactics and strategies you can have.
13:51 But you have no guarantee that you will win the toss.
13:54 So you have to plan both.
13:56 And it is a good thing that here, we have seen that the Netherlands defended against
14:02 South Africa.
14:03 The first match was probably played by Bangladesh.
14:07 But it was a match of the day that Bangladesh played.
14:12 And even at night, the Netherlands defended the score.
14:19 So it is not that you cannot defend if you have to bowl in dew.
14:24 So you have to make more runs, play positively and give a cushion.
14:32 And you can also defend by bowling.
14:36 So look, we don't have a toss in our hand.
14:38 We will bat and bowl.
14:39 Sometimes it is in your hand, sometimes it is not in your hand.
14:42 So you cannot decide by that.
14:45 But you should have this belief that whatever the situation is, we will try our best to
14:51 win the match.
14:52 Coach, how do you assess New Zealand as an opposition?
14:56 Top of the table clash.
14:57 They have not had it easy with them in the past?
15:00 Yeah, very good side.
15:01 I will say that they are playing very good cricket.
15:06 They play in India a lot.
15:07 They played here.
15:08 They come on eight overs to India a lot.
15:10 A lot of their players have played in the IPL.
15:12 So they are very used to these conditions.
15:14 A lot of experience in their team as well.
15:16 If you look at their squad, we were going through their squad and obviously doing our
15:21 strategy meetings.
15:22 And they do have a lot of experience and depth in their squad as well.
15:26 They are well balanced.
15:27 So yes, of course, a very good team and playing good cricket as well.
15:31 So we know we will have to be at our absolute best.
15:34 But I think it is really exciting for us as well because we believe that we are playing
15:38 good cricket at the moment.
15:39 So it should be a really good contest and we know that we will have to play well.
15:44 But yeah, we are confident.