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Dravid happy with team's preparations

Last Updated 19 January 2016, 19:55 IST
One of the key aspects that the former India captain Rahul Dravid is focused on as the coach of the national colts squad, which is set to take part in the ICC under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, is the ability to rotate the strike.

“One of the things I had stressed on was the ability to rotate the strike. It takes a lot of pressure off you. I talked about it a lot to the players,” said Dravid here on the eve of the team’s departure.

“All these boys can play big shots. They are in a generation where they practice playing the big shots and some of the sixes they hit are mind boggling.

“We had played on very good wickets over the last couple of months. But you may not get wickets where you can score 300 plus. There will be 240-250 plus wickets. They have learnt to rotate strike but they can always get better and improve,” the legendary batsman noted.

The 16-team under-19 World Cup starts on January 27 and India is in Group D alongside New Zealand, Ireland and Nepal. Top two in each of the four groups will progress to the quarterfinals.

Dravid was satisfied with the preparations of the squad going into the tournament, which India won thrice (2000 in Sri Lanka, 2008 in Malaysia and 2012 in Australia).

Asked why Ishan Kishan, a wicketkeeper-batsman from Jharkhand, was made the captain, Dravid said, “It seems captains from Jharkhand seem to do well. It’s just a joke.”

“The under-19 cricketers have played a lot of cricket only over the last two months. The last match they played together was in the last World Cup (won by South Africa),” Dravid said.

“We were not dead certain who was going to lead. We tried out different captains, and looking at all angles we thought Ishan Kishan was the best,” he said.

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(Published 19 January 2016, 19:55 IST)

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