Vihari and Shreyas may need to attend for normal probabilities until seniors are round, signifies Dravid

Rahul Dravid by no means believed in “rocking the boat” and is definitely not going to vary his template of giving the longest rope attainable to Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane even when Hanuma Vihari’s wait for normal probabilities will get a tad longer.
Vihari, Indian cricket’s ‘Tough Runs Man’ has by no means had it straightforward when it comes to probabilities as he has performed solely one among his 13 Tests at dwelling and it was skipper Virat Kohli’s again spasms and Shreyas Iyer’s abdomen bug that opened the door for an additional likelihood.
The Hyderabad man did his bit within the second innings with an unbeaten 40 in India’s goal of 240 for the Proteas.

“Firstly I must say Vihari played really in both innings. In first innings he got a nasty one and unfortunately for him, it popped up and fielder just got his finger tips to it and really got a good catch, he batted beautifully in the second innings and that gives us confidence you know,” Dravid was effusive in his reward for Vihari.
He additionally took the chance to reward Shreyas Iyer, one other robust middle-order contender.
“Shreyas (Iyer) obviously done that two or three Test matches ago and he has obviously done that and they have just got to take heart from the fact that whenever they are getting opportunities, they are doing well and hopefully their time would come.”

But that doesn’t imply that he will likely be most popular over and above a Rahane or a Pujara on this set-up with Kohli set to comeback within the subsequent sport, Dravid made it fairly clear.
In reality, with out naming, he cited examples throughout his enjoying days when the middle-order was jam-packed and guys like Kohli, Pujara and Rahane needed to look ahead to a 12 months or two earlier than being Test crew regulars.

“If you look at some of our guys now senior players and being sort of considered, senior players, they have also had to wait for their time and also have had to score a lot of runs at the start of their careers.”
Dravid does have a transition and phase-out plan however like every part has its personal opportune time, this may also have to attend.
“So it happens (wait) as its nature of the sport,” he stated including, “We can take a lot of heart from the manner Vihari batted in this game and that should give him a lot of confidence and that should give us a lot of confidence.”
Siraj uncertain for Cape Town Test
India’s bowler Mohammed Siraj, proper, leaves the sphere with crew physio Nitin Patel in the course of the first day of the 2nd Test Cricket match between South Africa and India on the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Dravid confirmed that quick bowler Mohammed Siraj hasn’t recovered from the hamstring damage sustained in the course of the second Test and it may possibly’t be stated with certainty that he will likely be obtainable for the ultimate sport beginning in Cape Town from January 11.
“Siraj is not fully fit and we need to check going forward what is his fitness status. In the next 4 days, whether he can get fit and physio will be doing scans.”
“As far as Hanuma Vihari’s on-field hit is concerned, I am not in a position to tell the extent of injury as I haven’t had a detailed chat with the physio.”

Siraj’s damage did pose an issue whereas defending a neither right here nor there sort of goal which 240 was.
“Losing Siraj (was a factor) as he wasn’t 100 percent in the first innings,” stated Dravid whereas lauding the quick bowler’s coronary heart to even bowl when he was injured.
“We had the fifth bowler and we couldn’t use him as much as we would have liked in that first innings and it did affect our strategy.”
Used Ashwin first-up on 4th afternoon to take advantage of “dry ball”
“I guess we saw the ball spinning on third day for Ashwin and we wanted to get him into action till the ball was dry and see if he gets some spin in first few overs, ” stated Dravid. (File)
Starting the fourth afternoon’s proceedings with Ravichandran Ashwin did draw numerous flak however the head coach defended the choice.
“I suppose we noticed the ball spinning on third day for Ashwin and we needed to get him into motion until the ball was dry and see if he will get some spin in first few overs.
“As ball got wet (due to wet outfield), it was difficult for a spinner to get into the game. He (Ashwin) bowled a really good spell on the third day. The gamble was to try and give him the dry ball,” the coach defined.
Not having follow sport isn’t an excuse
Dravid, who had already spoken about how batters ought to seize key moments, didn’t agree that not having follow match might be an excuse.
“We prepared as well as we could in these Covid situations and fact that we didn’t have a three-day game, …really dont have excuses apart from fact that we played well in first Test and SA outplayed us in this game.”