(Image source: X.com/@BCCI)
[Saba Sports News] On the eve of the first ODI between India and Australia in Mohali, India head coach Rahul Dravid attended the pre-match press conference.
Dravid explained why there are lack of part-time bowlers in the Indian team.
Teams can only have four players outside the 30-yard circle after the first powerplay, and it lasts for 30 overs (11th to 40th over) in ODI cricket.
Dravid targeted this rule, stating that it doesn’t allow breathing space to part-timers in the middle overs.
“I think it could be because of the rule change. Suddenly you have gone from four fielders inside the ring to five fielders inside the ring. I think that has drastically changed the ability of part-time bowlers to be able to bowl in the middle phase,” said Dravid.
Dravid also believes that the previous ICC rule helped part-time bowlers such as Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and Suresh Raina.
“If you remember and mention all these names (Sachin, Sourav, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Raina) bowling in this phase, a lot of these guys started when there used to be only four fielders in the ring. In that kind of situation (five fielders outside the ring), you could lose a lot of part-time bowlers and not only us, but a lot of teams did that. If you will notice, the number of part-time bowlers has gone down in other teams as well. It’s not only the Indian team,” he added.
Furthermore, Dravid informed that a few batters do perform the bowling drills in the nets.
“It’s not that they are not bowling in the nets, a lot of batsmen they do bowl in the nets. If you don’t get opportunities to bowl in the middle then it becomes very difficult to develop your skill. And more and more captains and coaches are vary of the rules so they will always look to play a genuine bowler in the mix. This is something we are working on. It’s not that we don’t work on that, we constantly work on it and we are constantly working on some of our bowlers to bat well as well. Certainly (whenever the rules changed), the count of part-time bowlers has reduced,” Dravid concluded.