The clamour for an overhaul in Indian cricket keeps growing. The latest to come out in scathing criticism of Team India‘s lack of ability is the recently-retired Rahul Dravid, who told the BBC’s Test Match Special that MS Dhoni‘s men lacked the skill to beat top teams and should be made more accountable for their on-field efforts.
India are 1-2 down in the Test series heading into the final Test in Nagpur. “India haven’t been able to put up a fight. You can’t demand runs, but you can at least demand accountability in terms of intensity and effort,” Dravid said. “India have been poor in the field and their physical fitness is disappointing me.
That’s not an excuse.” Dravid went on to question the ability of new Indian players. “People talk about attitude and say the players don’t care because there is too much money in the IPL… But the main thing is their lack of skill and ability, which is more worrying. It raises questions as to the talent and quality of players coming through.” Dravid, India’s second-highest run getter in Tests, raised questions about India’s cricket set-up and the feeder lines in place for the national team. He said BCCI needed to work out “how to bring through young players who have the skill, technique, temperament and desire to play Test cricket.” “One of the challenges is that our domestic cricket is not of the quality to allow players to seamlessly move into international cricket.
England have put a mirror up to Indian cricket and shown them the challenges that they face,” he added. “Having ‘A’ tours and the academy system is becoming more and more important. I think England have been pretty good with that in the way that the academy travels every winter to different parts of the world. I think that is something India can learn from England,” Dravid said, pointing out that “lessons need to be learned from this series.” The recently-retired batsman said India had been out bowled in the spin department. “That’s a worrying sign because spin has been our strength,” Dravid said.