Rahul Dravid Says India's Red-Ball Batting Is 'Work In Progress'

Batting legend Rahul Dravid on Tuesday said that India has a lot of depth in white-ball cricket but conceded that the lack of red-ball practice makes their long-form batting a work in progress. The former Indian captain said the amount of white-ball cricket makes the Indians perform well in One-day International (ODI) and Twenty20 formats. "It's the amount of white-ball cricket and, therefore, the hours of short-format training that make the Indians so good in one-day international and Twenty20 International cricket. Not to forget the bench strength, which is quite well rounded," Dravid told The Week and was quoted by ICC Cricket.

“I benefitted hugely from having proper first-class games. Maybe schedules have changed and things are more complicated, but there is no doubt that a couple of first-class games before any Test tour is only going to help. I found this 14 playing 14 [rotation system] started happening towards the end of my career. I did not like those games as a player,” Dravid said.

Dravid also spoke about India's batting form in Test cricket. "Work constantly needs to happen. It is not a one-time thing or a two-year thing," said Dravid when asked about India's batting form in Test cricket - specifically in England.

"I think it is important to tighten the process or programme that exists at U-19 and A team levels. Make it more robust. Make sure there are opportunities every year," he said.

Dravid conceded India's batting depth in white-ball cricket. "There is now a path for people who do well in the Ranji Trophy. I definitely feel that in white-ball cricket we have a lot of depth, largely due to the amount of white-ball cricket that is played. In red-ball cricket, we have talent and decent backups, but again it is a work in progress," he said.

Dravid is presently the coach of India A side and India Under-19 teams and remains one of the legends of the game. He has 13,228 Test runs to his name and is placed fourth in the list of leading run-getters of all time.