At a glance
- Rahul Dravid says T20 batting has evolved dramatically
- Former India coach believes bowlers must improve quickly
- Dravid calls for more challenging pitches in white-ball cricket
Former India head coach Rahul Dravid believes modern T20 batting has evolved at such a rapid pace that bowlers are now struggling to keep up with the demands of the format.
Speaking in Dublin after being unveiled as the owner of a franchise in the European T20 Premier League, Dravid reflected on the changing face of white-ball cricket and admitted that batters currently hold a clear advantage in the shortest format.
Rahul Dravid Highlights Dramatic Shift in T20 Cricket
Dravid pointed to the fearless approach of young players such as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ayush Mhatre and Priyansh Arya along with India star Abhishek Sharma as evidence of how T20 batting has transformed in recent years.
The former India captain said players are now capable of clearing boundaries with remarkable consistency while also finding scoring areas that once seemed impossible to access.
Speaking to PTI in Dublin, Dravid said:
“In a sense, to see the quality of batting that has happened over the last two or three years, I think the bowlers in that format of the game will slowly have to do some catching up.
“I think batsmanship and the ability to hit sixes and to access different parts of the ground has certainly improved leaps and bounds.”
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Dravid Believes Bowlers Must Develop New Skills
While Dravid acknowledged the growing dominance of batters in white-ball cricket he backed bowlers to eventually respond with new tactics and improved skillsets.
The World Cup-winning coach stressed that bowlers must continue evolving if they want to remain effective in high-scoring T20 matches.
“Bowlers will have to keep working on their skills and keep developing. I am sure some of them will still be able to stand out and hold their own,” Dravid said during the interview.
However he admitted that, for now, modern batters have adapted to the format better than bowlers.
“Probably a lot more batsmen are able to cope with the requirements of the modern T20 game than some of the bowlers have been able to at this point of time. That may change in two or three years.”
Test Cricket Still Favors Bowlers Says Dravid
Despite the batting explosion in T20 cricket Dravid believes bowlers continue to dominate in the Test arena where matches are regularly producing results.
The former India skipper pointed to the increasing number of short Test matches as proof that bowlers still hold significant influence in the red-ball game.
“If you look at Test cricket today nearly every Test match produces a result. Two-day matches, three-day matches. So bowlers have started holding the sway in Test cricket,” Dravid said.
He added that the next few years could reveal whether bowlers are capable of regaining some control in T20 cricket as well.
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Rahul Dravid Calls for More Challenging T20 Pitches
Dravid also suggested that curators may need to offer bowlers more assistance through pitch preparation instead of relying solely on batting-friendly surfaces.
The former Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals coach believes conditions with extra pace, bounce or turn could restore balance between bat and ball.
“They may need a little bit of support and I think the way is probably to have a little more challenging wickets to ensure that there is something in it for the bowlers,” Dravid explained.
He also noted that increasing boundary sizes is no longer realistic in modern stadiums.
“Because I don’t think we can increase the size of the boundaries and already there is no space to go and increase the size of the boundaries.”
Dravid Warns Against One Sided Cricket
Although Dravid expects bowlers to eventually respond to the batting revolution he insisted the game should not become too heavily tilted in favor of either side.
“I think at some stage we don’t want the balance to be too skewed either way either on the side of the batsmen or the side of the bowlers,” he said.
As T20 cricket continues to evolve at breakneck speed Dravid’s comments underline the growing debate around whether the sport can maintain a fair balance between explosive batting and quality bowling.
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