Cricket News

Dinesh Karthik gives a cheeky answer to Ravi Shastri’s ‘why so many breaks’ jibe at Rahul Dravid

Following India’s disappointing 20-20 World Cup campaign questions are now being asked of the team, the coaching staff as well as the board. One such question that the former head coach Ravi Shastri has put forth to the management is regarding the breaks.

“I do not believe in breaks,” Shastri had said before the start of the series. “Because I want to understand my team, I want to understand my players and I want to then, be in control of that team. These breaks… what do you need that many breaks for to be honest? You get your 2-3 months of the IPL, that’s enough for you to rest as a coach. But other times, I think a coach should be hands-on, whoever he is.”

Dinesh Karthik, who was a part of Team India for the 20-20 World Cup has however given a logical explanation as to why Rahul Dravid is not with the team on the New Zealand tour.

“As we speak, on the 30th, the team is going to Bangladesh and this New Zealand series isn’t going to get over on the 30th. I don’t think he can be in two places at one time. So it is very understandable,” he said. Karthik has also spoken in favour of split coaching in order to manage the workload better.

Dinesh Karthik in favour of split coaching

“That is something which Team India needs to look into after the 2023 ODI World Cup when the contract is up for renewal, I think split coaching is something that has very very high plausibility. With Test cricket getting an interesting dynamic with the World Test Championship which means every two years you have something to play for. So you will end up having a very different set of players playing Test cricket. In white-ball cricket, you will have players playing both formats but you will see a lot of Test players not being a part of it,” he explained.

“So I don’t mind having a different Test and white-ball coach which the English team has embraced. And when you have so much volume of cricket played where certain tours tend to overlap as well you will have coaches selecting which is of the bigger context. The two Tests in Bangladesh and four against Australia are now important because they will give India a crack at the World Test Championship final and hence they have chosen to be part of those series. Hence a full-fledged side to go to Bangladesh and Australia Test series. T20 will take a big backseat right now because you have two years to prepare for the next World Cup,” concluded the wicketkeeper batter.