India head coach Rahul Dravid (AP Image)
Rahul Dravid said he had a chat with Cheteshwar Pujara about the ideal strategy in England conditions
India head coach Rahul Dravid said that the team had a chat with Cheteshwar Pujara about the conditions in England as he has been in the UK for the past few months. While most of the Indian players were playing in the Indian Premier League, Pujara was in England for county cricket. The 35-year-old has led Sussex this year and has done well for them for the second season in a row.
The talismanic batsman hit three centuries for Sussex this season, while he was also their top performer last year.
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Pujara scored 1,094 runs in the County Championship for Sussex last year, including a record-breaking three double centuries, and ended the season at an average of 109.4.
Dravid said he had a chat with Pujara about the ideal strategy in English conditions as India face a litmus test against Australia in the WTC final at The Oval, London.
“We’ve had talks with Puzzi – about the captaincy, obviously about the batting, but he also leads Sussex. So the kind of tactics and strategy he’s used by the county bowlers, with He plays, he has a good control over things,” Dravid told the media in London ahead of the WTC final.
However, the Indian head coach suggested that they will not make drastic changes to their basics as they will remain the same for the mega clash against Australia.
“So we’ve obviously had some conversations and discussions with and around that and we’ll see how we can incorporate some of that. Doesn’t drastically change some of the fundamentals of the game. They’ve always been the same.” Dravid said.
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The Oval will host its first Test in June and conditions may not be as batting friendly as they are later in the English summer. However, Dravid is not reading too much into this.
“We just have to react to what we see in terms of conditions and how it plays out in the middle. And hopefully we have the resources and capability to deal with whatever comes before us.”
