Glaring flaws in youngsters’ technique reflects badly on Rahul Dravid, opines Dilip Doshi
Former Indian cricketer Dilip Doshi has questioned the role of the NCA and Rahul Dravid in shaping up young batsmen and has opined that he finds glaring flaws in the technique of the youngsters. Doshi believes that the Indian cricketers’ attributes do not match their fitness and mental prowess.
Dilip Doshi, who represented India in 33 Tests and 15 ODIs between 1979 and 1983, has launched a scathing attack on the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and Rahul Dravid, and has questioned the latter’s role in grooming young batsmen. Doshi believes that the lack of footwork and technique in young Indian batsmen - be it Prithvi Shaw or Shreyas Iyer or Rishabh Pant - is concerning and went on to state that Dravid and NCA are failing when it comes to shaping up the cricketers.
"All the young players that are coming out in Indian team today, whether it Shreyas Iyer or Prithvi Shaw, or a Rishabh Pant, nobody has got footwork. So what is the [National Cricket Academy] doing? They’re failing, in my view. What is Rahul Dravid doing? He was supposed to be a master technician and I salute him for that. But that is not helping. Basically, the hunger for excellence has to come from within you,” Doshi told Sporstar.
The 72-year-old was appreciative of the mental toughness of the Indian cricketers but criticized their technique and their hunger for self-improvement. The former Indian cricketer believes that these days, too much emphasis is placed on attitude and mentality and added that technical proficiency is what will eventually bail cricketers out of trouble.
“The player has got to understand that. This Indian team is hungry to perform well. But when they are not able to perform well, where’s the hunger of excellence? I don’t see it. Hunger for excellence comes when you want to excel at your own art. That means you have to cut out all the weaknesses and the weaknesses lie in the technique.
"Mentally they are all very fine, as I understand it from a distance, and today’s cricketers talk far more about the game, about the attitude, mental fitness. I think it should be displayed on the field.”
Doshi, who picked 114 Test wickets for India, was further dismissive of the concept of ‘burnout’ and described it as a modern-day phenomenon that he quite cannot comprehend.
“I read about burnout, but I don’t understand it. To me, it is a modern phenomenon. There is always pressure at every level, whenever you play. There is a pressure to perform, to keep your place in the team, pressure to win and also to live up to the expectations of your fans.
“ But today’s cricketers are happy in the sense that they are well fed, they’re well looked after. And therefore, there is no pressure for finance, the only pressure is of performance. What other pressures are we talking about?”