World Cup: If you want to see fours and sixes then why are the bowlers here? Dravid angry at giving average rating to Chennai and Ahmedabad pitches

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid does not agree with the ICC giving ‘average’ rating to some of the pitches in the ongoing ODI World Cup. He said that merely scoring more runs cannot be an eligibility criteria for rating the pitches. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has given ‘average’ rating to the pitches at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, which will host India’s match against Australia, and Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which will host the match against Pakistan in Ahmedabad.

Rahul Dravid said that he wants to see variety in a tournament and pitches cannot be rated only on the basis of runs scored. “I would certainly respectfully disagree with the average rating given for those two wickets,” Dravid said here on Saturday on the eve of the match against New Zealand. I think they were good wickets. If you want to see only 350 runs and consider only those wickets as good, then I disagree with that. I think you have to focus on different skills. If we want to see only fours and sixes, then we also have T20 cricket for that.

Then why are the bowlers here?

Dravid said that if only fours and sixes are to be seen then what is the role of bowlers in the match. He said, “To be honest, there are probably wickets of more than 350 runs in Delhi or Pune. Those are the only good wickets, so why are the bowlers here? Why are there spinners after all? If all you want is for the spinners to come and give 60 runs in 10 overs, so that you can see fours and sixes and one ball spins or two balls spin and you give it an average rating.

We should focus on all skills

Dravid said, “I disagree with this because I think we should focus on all the skills, the ability to rotate the strike in the middle. Seeing Jadeja’s quality bowling or seeing Mitchell Santner bowling or seeing Adam Zampa bowling or seeing Kane Williamson rotating the strike in the middle overs. The way Virat Kohli and Lokesh Rahul batted against Australia. Those are skills too. They also need to come forward and demonstrate.”

It is not very difficult to rotate the strike

“On some of the wickets we played on, Delhi and Pune, rotating the strike in the middle overs was not a very difficult skill,” the Indian coach said. The competition was on who could hit more fours and sixes. So in my opinion this is not the only way to assess wickets. I believe we need to adopt a better way of deciding what is good and what is average.”

We saw a wicket of 138 runs in Perth

Dravid also gave some examples to prove his point. “Let me give you an example,” he said. I don’t know what the rating was for those wickets, but we played the T20 World Cup in Australia. In Perth we saw a wicket of 138 runs. India plays South Africa and almost every ball seams and swings. It was a T20 match. I don’t know what rating he was given. I hope it is also given an average rating.”

I am not complaining

Dravid said, “Pakistan played England again in the World T20 final and 130 runs were scored in the T20 match. I am not complaining about it. I think it’s good, it’s great. That Perth wicket was good. Various skills were challenged in this. Various skills were displayed in it. And I am saying this even though we have lost those matches. So there is no problem in this. Sometimes the wickets will turn a bit, sometimes they will seam a bit, they will swing a bit, they will bounce a bit. If we want to consider only the sixes and fours hit in 350 runs as good wickets, then I disagree with that.

Different wickets, different challenges

Dravid said that he wants to see variety in the tournament and that less runs scored does not mean that the wicket is not good. “I just want to see diversity in a tournament,” he said. I mean sometimes there will be good wickets. Sometimes the score will be 350 and there will be matches in which a lot of runs will be scored. Sometimes there are wickets where the ball turns, spinners get a chance. There will be other wickets also where the ball may be a little seamier. You have a long tournament, you are playing in India, there will be different wickets in different parts of the country, there will be different challenges. The teams that are able to face and overcome all those challenges will ultimately be successful.”

where will the bowlers go

“As a team, we have to be able to focus on this and work accordingly,” Dravid said. You want to make every wicket a 350-run wicket. Skill is visible even in wickets of more than 350 runs. We saw some excellent hitting. We see some great shots being played, but other skills are missed. And on that particular day it is fine, but in the initial matches when the ball rotates a bit or something happens, the bowlers get a chance. You start giving them average ratings. Where will the bowlers go with this? Then why are they coming? If we just want to see fours and sixes then as I said – we have T20, play two T20 matches.