Team India are all set to lock horns with New Zealand in the three-match T20I sequence, beginning in the present day at Sky Stadium in Wellington. In the absence of normal skipper Rohit Sharma, all-rounder Hardik Pandya will captain the aspect. Similarly, head coach Rahul Dravid can also be unavailable as he has been given a relaxation from the New Zealand tour, and BCCI has despatched VVS Laxman as the interim head coach of the Men in Blue.
Notably, this isn’t the first time Dravid has been given a relaxation, as earlier this 12 months, Laxman oversaw proceedings when India toured Zimbabwe and Ireland. Reacting to the breaks given to Dravid, former India head coach Ravi Shastri reckoned a coach mustn’t take this a lot quantity of relaxation and as an alternative make investments the time to know the gamers. Shastri stated the coach will get 2-3 months time throughout the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is greater than sufficient.
“I do not believe in breaks. Because I want to understand my team, I want to understand my players and I want to then be in control of that team. These breaks… what do you need that many breaks for, to be honest? You get your 2-3 months of the IPL; that’s enough for you to rest as a coach. But other times, I think a coach should be hands-on, whoever he is,” stated Shastri throughout a digital presser at Prime Video forward of the first T20I between India and New Zealand in Wellington.
Shastri additionally emphasised that India ought to comply with the instance of England and make totally different groups for 3 totally different codecs, even when that requires to go away out sure senior gamers.
“I wouldn’t like to point out anything, but there’s an opportunity with this team in the future to identify roles for players, identify match-winners, and go pretty much on the template of England. They are one team that really caught the bull by the horns after the 2015 World Cup. They sat down and said they are going to identify the best players for that format of the game – whether it’s T20 or 50-over cricket,” stated the former all-rounder. This meant if sure senior gamers needed to sit out, then so be it. They bought in fearless kids who might adapt to that sample of the sport with out having to vary their video games an excessive amount of. So it’s a template that may be adopted simply; India have gotten a wealth of assets. And I feel it will possibly begin with this tour. Because while you have a look at this workforce, it’s a brand new, younger aspect. You can establish, you may groom, and you may take this workforce forward in two years,” Shastri added.