Primarily looking at numbers is a big mistake, claims Rahul Dravid

Primarily looking at numbers is a big mistake, claims Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid opines that only judging a player on his statistics in a given format is not always the best route to take in order to build the perfect team. The former India batsman added that every team must have a captain who is willing to trust his own instinct rather than the statistical data.

India ‘A’ and India U-19 cricket team coach Rahul Dravid has been given credit for bringing about wonders with his young squad on a global scale. Dravid led the India U-19 cricket team, which included Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi and others, to the World Cup title when the tournament was held in New Zealand.

Speaking at a function to launch ESPNcricinfo’s new metrics, Superstats, the former Rajasthan Royals captain was adamant that the teams across the globe must not only use the ‘moneyball’ tactic to recruit new players, but also  Dravid reckons that the team management has to look at the bigger picture.

“Primarily looking at numbers is probably a mistake but ignoring them is also a mistake. I don’t like to use numbers to look back, I am more interested in numbers that help me take decisions. I think there is a human element to cricket also. So you cannot look at numbers blindly. You can’t go blindly to a player and say, ’this is what the numbers, so this is what you’ve got to do.’ You have to look at the whole picture. So that is why I think geeks won’t ever completely take over because teams don’t run like that,” said Dravid, reported Scroll.

Dravid, who represented India in 164 Test matches scoring 13,288 runs in the process, also added that every team requires an instinct-driven captain who is capable of making tough decisions.

"Even as a coach you sometimes want captains who just don’t go by numbers alone. Sometimes, you want captains to do their own things. Sometimes, the numbers might say that X needs to bowl a certain over but sometimes the captain might get a feel that this bowler is not up for it today. Numbers can quantify someone if he is carrying a niggle. Numbers can’t quantify whether someone is not up for it. You can sense it but you can’t put a number to it.

So as a coach, if a captain takes a gut call on the field, you back them especially if you know they aren’t calling it blind. That is something that Dhoni… Dhoni especially does very well. I think he gets that. I think he gets the feel of that,” he added.

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