Mumbai: India now have the capability to search-out talented players from all corners of the country, believes Under-19 national team coach Rahul Dravid.
Although Dravid is yet to win a U-19 World Cup as a coach, he helped guide the Indian colts to a second-place finish in the tournament, which took place in Bangladesh, earlier this year.
Dravid compared the scenario with how the situation was, when he was growing up playing cricket, when asked about the infrastructure of the sport in India.
“Indians have always had the passion for cricket, but the facilities haven’t always matched-up to it. You had a time when seven or eight of the players (in the national team) were from the big cities,” said Dravid.
He went on to describe how a U-19 national side, back in his days, would mainly consist of players from the big cities. He said, “The U-19 team that I played in, typically had nine or ten of us from the five metro cities.”
However, things have changed since then. There are plenty more players who are making it to the top level from the smaller towns itself.
“The U-19 team that I coached last year, had one boy from Tamil Nadu, one boy from Delhi and one boy from Mumbai,” said Dravid. “The rest were all from smaller towns and cities. It’s really fantastic to see how this game today can access talent from all kind of sources.”
