The Indian cricketers, split into two groups, limbered up with some warm-up sport, kicking a football across a line of chairs. A kite swooped low before taking off into the skies. Outside, Wallajah Road swelled with traffic heading towards the Marina Beach and adjoining localities. It was a Friday night of anticipation at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium as the hallowed venue was being readied for Sunday’s World Cup clash between India and Australia.
If there were any nerves within the ranks, coach Rahul Dravid did well to mask it as he was his usual self at a media interaction: calm and equally prone to some self-deprecatory humour. Asked about a safe total on Indian surfaces, he dead-panned: “One run more than the opposition.”
He then explained: “It’s hard to tell. Some of the squares in India, you have red soil, black soil, you have a mix of red and black. Each one is going to be unique. I don’t think you can go and say that this is going to be a safe total. You have to adapt. Ground sizes will be different. We will play on a relatively bigger ground in Chennai compared to say when we go to Bangalore or Delhi.”
There was an interlude about New Zealander Rachin Ravindra’s first name that blends Rahul and Sachin and Dravid grinned and said: “Watching him bat yesterday, he hit five sixes. May be the Sachin in (the name) helped him certainly.”
Dravid stated that he had moved on from his playing days and as a coach it is all about helping players be in a good space. “Adaptability is going to be a huge challenge in this World Cup. It is important to build a squad that allows us to play two to three different conditions and based on those (factors) we will mix some of those squads.”
The coach was expansive when it came to supporting ODIs. “It is still an important format. I sincerely hope that we still keep valuing and playing this format, because, just to give you an example, (Mohammed) Siraj’s spell in the Asia Cup final, I mean that was really top-class bowling of six overs. In a T20 game you never see that. It (ODIs) still allows you to see good innings like the ones from those left-handers (Devon Conway and Ravindra), it allows you to see a lot of good spin, rotation of strike and a lot of creativity.”
Dravid also backed Suryakumar Yadav to come good in ODIs. “We have been chatting to him a little bit about finding different ways to score runs. We know that his preferred route of scoring runs in the T20 format has been square of the wicket but in one-day cricket you have got to find other ways, other areas to access, and credit to him, he is working really hard.”
Decades ago, Dravid was a regular in Chennai’s league cricket and all that distilled experience might come in handy as his wards launch their World Cup campaign over the weekend.
