Dravid Points to Batting Failure

 Hyderabad: Indian head coach Rahul Dravid on Sunday admitted the failure of the batters after suffering a 28-run defeat to England in the first Test of a five-match series here.

“We shouldn’t have been chasing a target of 231. It was a challenging score in those conditions. It would have been different had we scored 70 more runs in the first innings,” the coach said.

Mentioning the success of left-arm spinners in recent times, the former Indian captain said: “Tom Hartley bowled in the right areas. We can’t be harsh on our players. The second innings was really tough. Maybe we could have played more square of the wicket, but again, it is not easier. Yes, we have to counter left-arm spinners better. We have to get better.”

He lauded K.S. Bharat and Ravichandran Ashwin for their efforts after India were reduced to 119 for 7. “It was a good fight back by Bharat and Ashwin before Hartley bowled a perfect ball at that point of the game to dismiss the former. It turned their chances,” he said.

He also acknowledged Ollie Pope for his 196 in the second innings. “Pope’s was a fantastic innings. I have never seen better reverse-sweeping than by him. Playing that so consistently and for so long against quality spinners in these challenging conditions, hats off to him,” Dravid said about Pope’s stand against Indian bowlers.

“He also played some risky shots but managed well to score big. You’ve seen people try that before, and play some exceptional innings,” he added.