India registered its first ever test match loss in the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium

We didn't get somebody getting a really big hundred: Dravid

Young players don't get time play first-class cricket: Dravid

India registered its first ever test match loss in the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on 28th January. India had the upper hand after a 190-run lead after the first innings. However, a stellar 278-ball 196 by Ollie Pope and a 7-wicket haul by Tom Hartley ensured that England won by 28 runs. Contrary to popular opinion Coach Rahul Dravid felt that India’s first innings with the bat was where things could have been different. “I thought we left probably 70 runs on the board in the first innings. You know, I think in our first innings, when conditions were pretty good to bat in on day two, I thought in the kinds of situations we got ourselves into, some good starts and we didn’t really capitalise. We didn’t get a hundred, you know, we didn’t get somebody getting a really big hundred for us. So, in some ways, in India, I just felt we left those 70, 80 runs back in the hut in the first innings. Second innings is always going to be challenging. It’s one of those things that, you know, it’s tough. It’s not easy to chase 230 or it’s not done very often,” Dravid said in the post match presentation. 

Dravid also threw light on the lack of practice with the red ball among Indian batsmen, none of whom managed to score a century in the game. “A lot of players are quite young, in the sense that a lot of these guys do play a lot of white-ball cricket and also maybe don’t get a lot of time to get to play a lot of first-class cricket as well. So they’re learning and I think they’re getting there,” Dravid added.