Waste of time, energy, and money: Dravid on Ranji pitches which give results in 2 days

FORMER INDIAN CAPTAIN Rahul Dravid has slammed the nature of pitches prepared in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. 

Dravid, a usually reserved person off the field, came out all guns blazing and said that pitches where getting six to seven wickets by "bowling darts are a waste of time, energy and money''.

As many as five Ranji Trophy games ended in two days, and it has certainly triggered the India A and U-19 coach, who thinks it will prove detrimental towards producing 'good cricketers'.

“We don’t want green tops but also we don’t want wickets where match finishes in two days and people who are bowling darts are getting six-seven wickets. I think we need to be very careful that we don’t go down that path,” Dravid told PTI, expressing his thoughts on the nature of these wickets.

26 wickets fell in a single day in the match between Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand, while Bengal dismissed Odisha for 37 on a 'dangerous' wicket. 

“Square turners, matches are finishing in two or three days. I really don’t think its good for the health of Indian cricket. Because if you think about it it’s a waste of time, energy and money,” he added.

A similar situation has ensued in the ongoing third Test between India and South Africa, but Dravid says international cricket is different from Ranji, since the latter prepares good players for the future.

“It’s a little different at the international level since you are looking for wickets. But at least in the Ranji Trophy level we are looking to prepare players for the international stage. These wickets, what I have seen recently, is poor,” Dravid fumed.

“It is disappointing. I don’t want to specifically mention the Bengal game just because I happen to be here. But all around in the Ranji Trophy this year, the teams are producing in my opinion poor wickets,” he said.

Dravid also said that if the pitches continue to be this poor, it is only right for the BCCI to choose neutral venues instead of playing at home venues. 

“A lot of people criticise and say Ranji Trophy should be at home venues but if teams are going to resort to doing these kind of things then I think its better Ranji Trophy is in neutral venues, at least in the knockout stage. We need to start forcing teams to start preparing good wickets.”

The former batsman also hailed Virat Kohli's approach as Test captain and said that he was doing a good job. 

“In the end, it is about winning. He has produced some very good results in Test cricket. I think he has got to learn. No one is born a perfect captain and even when you are an established captain you will make mistakes. So I think we are sometimes very quick to judge and start labelling, who is aggressive and non-aggressive because, it suits us."

India's best No.3 for a long time, Dravid said Cheteshwar Pujara was doing a great job, but it all depends on the performances to occupy the coveted position. 

“I like Pujara. He has played some critical match-winning innings. So I really like him at No 3. But that again depends on performances. You got to keep performing in any position. There is no position that’s written in stone that it’s your spot.” 

“There was a generation of cricketers who batted. There was myself, Sachin, Laxman and Ganguly, who played for a long time because there were performances. You keep performing you can hold on to your spot. Pujara is doing well at No 3. Pujara is a class player. He doesn’t need help. He is going to do well for himself.” 

“Kohli obviously is a really good at No 4. And Rahane bats well at No 5. They keep performing hopefully they will play for a long time.”

On a completely different note, Dravid seemed quite excited about the pink ball used in the first-ever day-night Test match.

"I am excited about it. I’m looking forward to how it goes. At one stage we keep talking how Test cricket is diminishing in value and we need to say look we are doing something that gets hopefully more people to the stadium.”

“I have played it myself in Abu Dhabi for the England champion county versus the rest of England four years ago. I quite enjoyed it. I didn’t have an issue seeing the ball. We need to try things. We need to experiment,” he added.

As coach of the India U-19 team, Dravid's advise to young cricketers is to be realistic about their chances of playing for the senior team. 

“Not all of them are going to make it. Only two or three guys will make it from here and the rest should aim to have really good successful first-class careers and push the players in the national team. We hope everyone can play but that’s unrealistic. No matter how good a wicketkeeper you are in U-19, for the time MS Dhoni is in the team nobody else is going to play.”

“Not every U-19 player will go on to play. And that should never really be the goal and aspiration of it. We should just help them improve as cricketers and people and hopefully they have good first class careers and some of them go on to play for India,” he concluded.