Rahul Dravid: All-format batters getting little time to practise Test skills

Former India captain and head coach Rahul Dravid believes that Indian batters playing all three formats of the game aren't getting enough time to hone their red-ball skills, and that is one of the major reasons behind their recent struggles in Test cricket. After going 12 years without a single home-series defeat, they have lost two of their last three home series, 3-0 to New Zealand in 2024 and 2-0 to South Africa in November 2025.

"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," Dravid said at the launch of the book The Rise of the Hitman: The Rohit Sharma Story in Bengaluru.

"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.

"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."

India Test captain Shubman Gill recently said he felt the players were not getting enough time to prepare for Test series, and requested the BCCI to factor this into the team's schedule.

"In my generation, when there were only two formats in the game, and there wasn't really the idea of franchise cricket, there were a lot of times where I would have a whole month of practicing for a Test series and I would be able to play with the red ball, and I would be able to develop my skills," Dravid said. "Now, one of the things that has become a bit tougher in red-ball cricket is a lot of our guys who play all the three formats, or who play the amount of cricket that they are playing, sometimes don't have the time to be able to practise red-ball cricket as much.

"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."

India are a powerhouse in T20Is. They are currently 3-0 up in a five-match series against New Zealand and heading into the T20 World Cup as favourites to defend the title. According to Dravid, one of the reasons behind India's extremely high scoring rates in T20Is is the amount of short-format practise the batters are putting in.

"You look at the hitting part, and the way people are hitting today in white-ball cricket, it's because they are able to practise it a lot more," Dravid said. "A lot of these boys who spend two-and-a-half months in the IPL, all they are doing is practising how many sixes they can hit, so they are getting much better at it."

In the ongoing World Test Championship, on the other hand, India are down in sixth place and need a drastic upswing in results to challenge for a place in the final in 2027. Dravid also attributed some of the recent struggles endured by the batters to the increasingly result-oriented pitches prepared around the world in the hunt for WTC points.

"The importance of getting result-oriented wickets has become much more," Dravid said. "In the old days, you just had to win a series against the team; you were not looking to win every Test match. Today the pressure on home teams to win all the games has increased because of the World Test Championship. That's why I think you are seeing slightly more wickets which are favouring the bowlers too much. And not only in India, but everywhere.

"I have been only a coach when the World Test Championship is on and I have certainly seen that the pressure of those points has at times made you ask for result-oriented wickets. No one wants to go to extremes, but certainly results are important, especially in your home games."