Published: Dec 27, 2023, 02:52 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 27, 2023, 04:37 PM (IST)
South Africa is a pace-bowler’s paradise. In an attempt to dominate the South African challenge, visiting teams frequently abandon their conventional strategies in favor of a pace-heavy approach due to the bounce and swing available. The management of the Indian squad were expected to field four pacers and one spinner when they arrived in Centurion for the first Test. Fans were quite surprised to witness head coach Rahul Dravid bowl as they watched the practice sessions in an attempt foresee India’s bowling lineup.
On the first day of the first Test, Dravid attempted to bowl in the nets at a medium pace, creating scenes that had never been seen before before the toss.
Seeing Dravid bowl in nets, even his former India teammate Sanjay Bangar was left surprised
“Well, he did most of the things that were asked of him from a player point of view – opened the batting, batted at 3,5,6, kept wicket. So this is something that I am surprised with. I have never seen Rahul Dravid do this. But it’s always good because as coaches you do things that you aren’t used to so to see. And there’s nothing wrong with his action; he seems pretty aligned and just has to add a little bit of piece. Otherwise, he looks pretty alright,” he said in a chat on Star Sports.
After observing Dravid start bowling during the drill, even Kohli rolled his arm and attempted to deliver a couple of medium-paced balls. It wasn’t something new for Kohli, who has bowled in the nets numerous times. In reality, at the 2023 ODI World Cup, Kohli took a wicket.
For people who are unaware, Dravid has bowled occasionally in international cricket in addition to keeping wickets for India. He actually has five wickets in total in international cricket—4 in ODI and 1 in Test.
