Our domestic cricket is good but A programme is crucial

Rahul Dravid is of the opinion that A cricket holds the major importance as compared to the domestic cricket considering it is the right graduation for a player.

The Indian cricket’s rise in recent years, which has seen them being on the path to create their own dynasty, has been down to a lot of factors including a solid bench strength and a domestic structure that keeps on producing quality players for the international level. Lengthening the channel by adding a shadow India A tour almost before every international trip that the Indian team have also helped the cause. Rahul Dravid, in his capacity as current NCA chairman and the former head coach of India A and India U-19, was the major force behind this. On being asked to explain his thought process behind the channels he takes, Dravid had a clear answer to Sportstar.

“We’ve been able to convince the board (BCCI) and ensure the boys are playing more cricket at this level. I feel there needs to be a step-up in level. For our U-19 boys, there needs to be a step-up from U-19 domestic tournaments if we want to these boys to establish themselves quickly in first-class cricket. To do that, we need to give them a slightly higher level of cricket. Same thing with India A. Our domestic cricket is good, but the India A programme is critical,” Dravid told Sportstar.

“The good thing for us is that a lot of other countries play a lot of their international players in the 'A' teams, whereas we might focus more on younger players. Maybe because their numbers are smaller. I have played against teams like South Africa and Australia A, who had seven or eight of their international players in the team against you. That is really good competition and the standard is definitely higher than the first-class game, the pressure is more. Then that helps build confidence, if you succeed at that level against some of those guys,” he added.

India winning four WC trophys so far

While India have been an indomitable force in the age-group cricket, winning four World Cups so far, the major concern has been the graduation to the bigger level. Many have done that with distinction - cue Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja - but there have been myriad tales of cricketers losing the path mid-way after success at the age-group level. Dravid stated that playing for India has many factors and the original success lies in how quickly you can get them in the first-class scene.

“You can’t judge by how many players go on to play for India. Because playing for India has many factors. It depends on opportunities, spaces available… someone might be good enough but there might just not be an opportunity opening up in the national team. So it’s not that, but it’s how quickly you can get them in the first-class scene. How many players were you able to give access to good facilities at the NCA, access to good coaching,” the former Indian skipper added.

“Get them to interact with a good physio, good trainers – that helps them in the long run. I’d like to believe that in this cycle, over the last 14-16 months, nearly 40-45 boys have played for India U-19. I think that’s the real credit. And credit to the junior selectors, who go around looking for these boys. They’ve also been brave enough to understand that winning is not everything. We’ve been willing to change and rotate our squads around a lot so that everyone gets fair opportunities, everyone gets to learn. The focus has been on learning and development rather than the pure result. It’s great that results have come, and I think that’s a reflection of the talent India possesses.”