Rahul Dravid Highlights Lack of Test Prep for Modern All-Format Players

Former captain and legendary batter of India, Rahul Dravid, has said that modern all-format batters are getting less time to hone their test batting skills. It is an issue that has affected their performance, as seen in the case of Indian batters, who have performed quite poorly in the recent test matches.

"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.” said former Indian captain, Rahul Dravid.

"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.” added Rahul Dravid.

He added that this issue has become a challenge for teams, as they are getting less time to prepare for test matches.

"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." said Rahul Dravid.

He then gave the example of Shubman Gill, who has recently found it challenging to maintain the same intensity across all formats. He added that Gill may have realized how this has affected his batting and preparation for test matches.

"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." added Rahul Dravid.