India head coach Rahul Dravid on Sunday admitted that his team needs to do better in maintaining the over-rate after scoring WTC points after the first Test against South Africa at Centurion, though he felt that in some cases may be given a “discount”. ,
Deduction of points for over-rate offenses from the World Test Championship could prove costly for any team reaching the final.
England were recently fined eight WTC points for falling short of eight overs in the Brisbane Test against Australia.
“The ICC is clearly trying to do something. As a coach it feels harsh and it feels a bit tough at times but it definitely makes us think, drives us to accelerate it,” Dravid said ahead of the second Test here.
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Dravid said that he has no objection to the new rule made by the ICC, but the officials should have a complete understanding of the conditions before deciding the points.
“They’ve tried fines in the past and it’s not working, tried other methods or methods in the past that weren’t working,” he said.
“The ICC is trying to go the way of the points in which I am fine … as long as there is a little bit of leeway and understanding during the game. Last time we got hurt… of course we were given some leeway but sometimes it doesn’t go well, it’s hard to tell how many minutes you lose.”
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Elaborating on the areas the team can work on to get better about over rate, Dravid said, “When you have Bumrah roll on your ankle and the physio has to go more (in between) . Time has to be spent. There were other issues with the ball changing last time.
“So you know there were some small areas in which maybe we could have been a little better but as a principle, we’re fine with that, we just need to react and respond better.”
The fact that India are playing four seamers is not helping their over rate, which is not the case when they play a big part with the spinners.
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