A new era in Indian cricket begins as Rahul Dravid takes the reins as the head coach and Rohit Sharma takes over from Virat Kohli as the T20I captain. The duo has already started mapping a blueprint for the shorter format, with the next T20 World Cup less than a year away.
Sharma Dravid attended a Zoom press conference ahead of the first T20I against New Zealand starting on Wednesday in Jaipur. At the event, they stated that their main focus will be providing players freedom to play fearlessly without having to worry about their place in the team.
“It’s one of the important aspects of the format where people have assurance of taking chances in the middle. That’s where both of us will need to play a huge role and part in giving an individual that assurance of going out and expressing himself,”
Rohit said.
Sharma and Dravid will work on role clarity for every individual in the team. They stressed on the importance of having security while players are doing their role in a highly volatile format that demands risk.
“You just need to go out there and play fearlessly and while doing that, there are chances that you might not always be successful. As long as they’re trying to do the role for the team, we are happy.”
Dravid, the head coach for all three formats, spoke about the workload management and assured that the players’ physical and mental health will be of utmost priority. He added that with so much cricket happening, it is important that players are looked after.
“We have to be careful about players’ workload management. Whether we do it within the team or by giving them a break, that will depend on a case-by-case basis. But players’ mental and physical well-being will be most important,”
said Dravid.
Sharma talked about the importance of finding the right template in T20 cricket that fits them, without following other teams. Rohit, who has won five IPL trophies for Mumbai Indians as captain, admitted that the Indian has a few holes that need to be plugged.
