Top News

When the entire nation hurled on Coach Gautam Gambhir, the Wall blamed the schedule for India's Test failure. There was a time when winning a Test series in the subcontinent was a known result, until now, when visiting countries are touring India to break their defeated streak. And now, the former Indian coach, and definitely one of the best Test players till now, Rahul Dravid, opened his mouth on the modern-day struggles of the Indian players.

Recently, Rahul Dravid went to a book launch event under the name of one of his favorite students, Rohit Sharma—The Rise of the Hitman: The Rohit Sharma Story—Bengaluru. There, when asked about India's struggle in Test cricket, he compared his time to now.

He recalled how he and his team has two formats- the ODI and the Test cricket. There was no pressure of the Indian Premier League or so. The team would have had some time before the Test started rather than jumping from one format to the other in a blink. And its a real problem for all-format players. Rahul said,

"One of the things I understood as a coach, especially the guys that play all three formats, they keep moving from one format to the other.  There were times when we would get to a Test match three to four days before the match, and then when we start practising for the Test match, [and] when you look back at the last time that some of these guys had actually hit a red ball, it might have been four months ago or five months ago."

He added,

"That's become really a challenge, how do you almost find the time to be able to develop some of the skills that are hard. To play on turning tracks, or play on seaming wickets, doing that for hours and hours in a Test match is not easy. It requires skill."

Read also: Complete Guide to India's T20 World Cup 2026 Campaign: Schedule, Squad and Venue

Recently in a press conference, Indian Test captain Shubman Gill addressed the same issue, saying that the schedule has sandwiched them. There were reports where Gill was said to have demanded a 15-day break before switching to Tests.  And Rahul backed him.

Comparing his own generation to Gill's. Dravid recalled how they used to enjoy months with the franchise league pressure. It was their prime time to sharpen the red-ball skills. With Shubman being active in all three formats, Dravid understands his disciple's frustration.

"... one of the things that has become a bit tougher in red-ball cricket is a lot of our guys who play all the three formats, or who play the amount of cricket that they are playing, sometimes don't have the time to be able to practise red-ball cricket as much."

He added,

"I think Shubman has kind of alluded to it a little bit, just recently, because I think he's one who experienced that. He's one who actually played recently for us in all of the three formats so I think he would have realised how difficult it is for him to actually gear up for the Test format."

He even pointed out how relentless franchise cricket made these batters big hitters in white balls. But a lack of red ball practice makes them struggle.

The former two-time runner-up of the World Test Championship is not struggling at number six. The team needs a miracle to dream of a place in the 2027 WTC final. Dravid felt that the WTC is having a serious impact on how the teams are looking at even the home Tests.

The primary effect is the desperation to get a favorable pitch at home. Reacalling his coaching days, Rahul said,

"The importance of getting result-oriented wickets has become much more. In the old days, you just had to win a series against the team; you were not looking to win every Test match. Today the pressure on home teams to win all the games has increased because of the World Test Championship. That's why I think you are seeing slightly more wickets which are favouring the bowlers too much. And not only in India, but everywhere."

He added,

"I have been only a coach when the World Test Championship is on and I have certainly seen that the pressure of those points has at times made you ask for result-oriented wickets. No one wants to go to extremes, but certainly results are important, especially in your home games."