Rahul Dravid made sure each player gets a game to play in his “A” tours as a coach.
Former Indian skipper and current National Cricket Academy (NCA) director Rahul Dravid said that he made sure every guy in the squad gets a game when he tours with him in U-19 and A level games.
Dravid is enormously credited for filling all the dots in young player’s armoury and nurturing them to become world-class cricketer. Players like Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan etc have all played under him from their U19 levels and A levels and are one of the top cricketers for India.
Although, Dravid is no longer the coach of any Indian side as he took up the directors position at NCA Bangalore back in 2019, however, he will coach Shikhar Dhawan led the Indian side which will tour Sri Lanka in the month of July.
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A second string Indian team is picked for three games ODI series and as many games T20I series against Sri lanka, starting July 13.
“I tell them upfront, if you come on an A tour with me, you will not leave here without playing a game. I’ve had that personal experience myself as a kid: going on an A tour and not getting an opportunity to play is terrible,” Dravid ESPNcricinfo’s ‘The Cricket Monthly’.
“You’ve done well, you scored 700-800 runs, you go, and you don’t get a chance to show what you’re good at. And then you’re back to square one from the selectors’ point of view, because the next season you have to score those 800 runs again.
“It is not easy to do that, so there is no guarantee you’ll get a chance again. So you tell people upfront: this is the best 15 and we are playing them. This is not about the supposed best XI. At U-19, we make five-six changes between games if we can,” he said.
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