India head coach Rahul Dravid said the team’s bad 10-wicket defeat to England in the semifinal was disappointing but the T20 World Cup campaign as a whole was not a debacle and India was outplayed in all features of the game by Jos Buttler’s side.
India head coach Rahul Dravid said the team’s bad 10-wicket defeat to England in the semifinal was disappointing but the T20 World Cup campaign as a whole was not a debacle.
India was outplayed in all features of the game by Jos Buttler’s side and finished an unpleasant second on a pleasant evening in Adelaide, taking their drought at ICC events into the 10th year.
However, Dravid admitted that England’s experience showed on the day but stated that allowing Indian players to play the BBL was not a clear arrangement as it would mean the disaster of India’s domestic cricket, especially the Ranji Trophy which would run parallel.
“It’s tough. I think it’s very difficult for Indian cricket because a lot of these tournaments happen right in the peak of our season,” Dravid said.
“I think it’s a huge challenge for us. Yes, I think a lot of our boys maybe do miss out on the opportunities of playing in a lot of these leagues, but if you were to… it’s really up to the BCCI to make that decision, but the thing is it’s right in the middle of our season, and with the kind of demand there would be for Indian players, if you allowed all the Indian players to play in these leagues, we would not have a domestic cricket. Our domestic trophy, our Ranji Trophy would be finished, and that would mean Test cricket would be finished.
“I know a lot of people talk about it, but we have to be very careful… We have to understand the challenges that Indian cricket faces or the BCCI would face in a situation like this. You’d see all our boys…like a lot of boys being asked to play leagues right bang in the middle of our season. We’ve seen what that’s done to West Indian cricket, and I would not want Indian cricket to go that way. It would certainly affect our Ranji Trophy; it would affect Test cricket. Indian boys playing Test cricket is pretty important for the Test game, as well, I would think.”
Dravid credited both openers of Jos Buttler and Alex Hales for their amazing knocks in the T20 World Cup. However, Alex Hales and Jos Buttler were at their blistering best in the second semi-final of the ongoing T20 World Cup as they chased down 169 inside 16 overs against India.
Both batters kept on hammering boundaries at regular intervals and the Indian bowlers had no answers to what was thrown at them.
“We knew the key to the game was to try and take that opening partnership as early as we could. We tried to attack a little bit with our lengths up front. We thought that was a tactic. They played that well,”
Dravid said.
“The ball didn’t swing here probably as much as it has in other parts of Australia or other conditions. Played a little bit into their hands and class players like that, both Buttler and Hales, I thought their partnership was fantastic today. I think they just put the pressure on us, never let that go, and even when our spinners came on a wicket that we thought we might be able to control the game, they counterattacked our spinners, as well, and put our spinners under a lot of pressure.
“Once they got off to that kind of start, I think they could sit back and control the run rate. We had 168. They brought that run rate down to six and a half I think by the time the sixth over was finished, or seven runs an over, and then on a small ground like that, they were always in control, so they were going to control that game.
“They didn’t need to take too many risks. They could sit back and — not that they didn’t take them; they played some really good shots right through. But yeah, these things happen. Yeah, it’s disappointing. Debacle I’m not sure is the right word, but disappointing certainly.”