‘You don’t have a lot of time to figure out Test cricket’ – Dravid fires subtle warning to underperforming batters

Rahul-Dravid. (Photo Source: X/Twitter)

India head coach Rahul Dravid was not impressed with the batters’ performance in the first innings of the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam. Youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a brilliant double century but none of the other batters could assist him well as the hosts were bundled out for 396 runs. Speaking about the same, Dravid mentioned that the Rohit Sharma-led side left some runs on the field as he expected them to score at least 450 runs in the first innings.

Without naming any cricketer, the 51-year-old also sent a message to the players in the dressing room that one doesn’t have a lot of time to figure out Test cricket. Notably, Shubman Gill’s 34 runs was the second-highest in the first innings, which is very concerning as the cricketers are well accustomed to the conditions. The likes of Shreyas Iyer, Rajat Patidar and Axar Patel managed to get a good start but failed to convert, which might have infuriated Dravid as it is becoming a common practice in the Indian team.

“I do feel that we did leave runs on the board here again. I think that’s, again, maybe a function of the fact that we do have a lot of young batsmen coming through who are I think still figuring out Test cricket a little bit. But you don’t have a lot of time, you know, to figure out Test cricket,” Dravid was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“I will honestly say that I think we left a few runs on the board in both innings. you know, in both innings I felt we could have got, certainly in the first innings here, 396 I thought was under par. You win a toss. We have one guy with a double-hundred, you should be pushing 450, 475 in these conditions,” he added.

Meanwhile, in the second innings, Gill scored a terrific century but the batters once again struggled to get going. Axar made 45 runs, while Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin scored 29 runs each as India posted 255 runs on the board. However, courtesy of Jasprit Bumrah and Ashwin’s brilliance, India won the match by 106 runs.