Published: Sep 04, 2015, 08:12 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 04, 2015, 10:10 PM (IST)
Mumbai: Former India skipper Rahul Dravid heaped praise on Ajinkya Rahane is the best batsman India have at their disposal solely based on the basis of getting runs. “Rahane is probably the best Indian batsman on the basis of getting runs. All that is important is balance and adjustment. I have seen him improve in all these years at Rajasthan Royals (RR). Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand, he has shown his batting skills ever where in a small span of time. And that shows how quickly he has been adapting different formats and conditions”. He even admitted that Rahane is very different from him. READ: Rahul Dravid says Ajinkya Rahane should bat at No. 5 in Test cricket
“While the others go for the big shots, he didn’t. But yeah, both the cricketers had the same struggling to get into the Indian team—average at least 60 in the FC before getting the big chance. And he believes Rahane has the mental strength and courage to continue the current form,” he said. READ: Rahul Dravid believes youngsters are still keen on playing longer format
Dravid, who was at the book launch of former India cricketer Aakash Chopra at the Cricket Club of India (CCI), Mumbai sarcastically said that his game would have been better had he read more of his pieces when he was playing. “I have always enjoyed reading his pieces. Had I read them carefully while my playing days, a lot of my problems would have sorted,” Dravid said. READ: Rahul Dravid: Indian cricket lacks balance
When asked about the footwork, he said, ” I think good legs have never gone out of fashion. In today’s generation a lot of cricketers have good hands. For example, Virender Sehwag. I have played with him and according to him the best movement of hand was shown by him. And only players like him can survive without a proper footwork,” Dravid added.
Rahane said he was really lucky to have played under Dravid for many number of years at RR and in that span he has had quality conversations regarding slip catching and all that helped. He even said before the matches in Sri Lanka regularly regularly had sessions constituting of 200-300 catches, however it’s all about staying calm for those 50-60 overs during the game.
Meanwhile, Dravid said slip catching is all about art and natural talent and Rahane has got that in him. “You might catch brilliantly at the nets and he has seen a many doing that but repeating it during a game when you are under pressure is all together a different thing. It is about the ability of catching every 1 or 3 minutes, you have got hardly a fraction of a second to react to the edges from the batsman at the slips. So such skills are natural, cannot be inculcated,” Dravid said.
(Sakshi Gupta, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a sports fanatic whose mantra in life is “do only what you enjoy.” Her Twitter handle is @sakshi2929)
