Rahul Dravid Contradicts Rohit Sharma; Blames Indian Batters For Hyderabad Loss
IND choked against ENG in Hyderabad's 4th innings (AP)
India's third-innings bowling effort may have come up for a stick from critics but head coach Rahul Dravid felt his batters also left runs on the park in the first half and allowed England to claw their way back in the contest during the Hyderabad Test.
Dravid underlined India's inability to stretch their first-innings total to 500 and beyond despite facing one of the most inexperienced attacks on a pitch that played slow and allowed batters to get in after the new-ball phase.
India did make 436 all out to take a lead of 190. But their coach felt the likes of KL Rahul (86), Yashavi Jaiswal (80) and Ravindra Jadeja (87) could've produced substantial hundreds and perhaps sealed the contest in the first half itself.
Dravid On India's Batting Display
As seen in the run-chase when India were dismissed for 202 chasing 231 after Ollie Pope's marvellous 196 allowed England to comeback from 163/5 on Day 3 to put the hosts right under the pump.
"I mean, [the pitch was] challenging today, and I wouldn't be so harsh to judge them [batters] on today. In fact, if anything, I thought we left probably 70 runs on the board in the first innings when conditions were pretty good to bat in on day two," Dravid told the press after the painstaking 28-run defeat to concede a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
"I thought in those kinds of situations, we got ourselves into some good starts and we didn't really capitalise. We didn't get 100, we didn't get somebody getting a really big 100 for us. So in some ways I think I just felt we left those 70-80 runs back in the hut in the first innings," he added.
Meanwhile, earlier in the week, Rohit Sharma asked youngsters not to look centuries but play match-winning knocks for the team. At this juncture of moment, the head coach's statement seems contradicting Rohit Sharma on youngsters.
Dravid would be hoping it becomes the last instance of Indian batters selling their presence short as India now face a huge task to bounce back in the series with the next Test starting February 2 in Visakhapatnam.
 "Kashish Chadha")
