Vihari, Shreyas have to wait for chances: Dravid

Johannesburg: Rahul Dravid never believed in “rocking the boat” and is certainly not going to change his template of giving the longest rope possible to Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane even if Hanuma Vihari’s wait for regular chances gets a tad longer. Vihari, Indian cricket’s ”Tough Runs Man” has never had it easy in terms […]

Johannesburg: Rahul Dravid never believed in “rocking the boat” and is certainly not going to change his template of giving the longest rope possible to Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane even if Hanuma Vihari’s wait for regular chances gets a tad longer.

Vihari, Indian cricket’s ”Tough Runs Man” has never had it easy in terms of chances as he has played only one of his 13 Tests at home and it was skipper Virat Kohli’s back spasms and Shreyas Iyer’s stomach bug that opened the door for another chance.

---

The Hyderabad man did his bit in the second innings with an unbeaten 40 in India’s target of 240 for the Proteas.

“Firstly I must say Vihari played really in both innings. In first innings he got a nasty one and unfortunately for him, it popped up and fielder just got his finger tips to it and really got a good catch, he batted beautifully in the second innings and that gives us confidence you know,” Dravid was effusive in his praise for Vihari.

He also took the opportunity to praise Shreyas Iyer, another strong middle-order contender. “Shreyas (Iyer) obviously done that two or three Test matches ago and he has obviously done that and they have just got to take heart from the fact that whenever they are getting opportunities, they are doing well and hopefully their time would come.”

But that doesn’t mean that he will be preferred over and above a Rahane or a Pujara in this set-up with Kohli set to comeback in the next game, Dravid made it pretty clear.

In fact, without naming, he cited examples during his playing days when the middle-order was jam-packed and guys like Kohli, Pujara and Rahane had to wait for a year or two before being Test team regulars. “We can take a lot of heart from the manner Vihari batted in this game and that should give him a lot of confidence and that should give us a lot of confidence.”

Dravid confirmed that fast bowler Mohammed Siraj hasn’t recovered from the hamstring injury sustained during the second Test and it can’t be said with certainty that he will be available for the final game starting in Cape Town from January 11.

“Siraj is not fully fit and we need to check going forward what is his fitness status. In the next 4 days, whether he can get fit and physio will be doing scans.” “As far as Hanuma Vihari’s on-field hit is concerned, I am not in a position to tell the extent of injury as I haven’t had a detailed chat with the physio.”

Siraj’s injury did pose a problem while defending a neither here nor there kind of target which 240 was. “Losing Siraj (was a factor) as he wasn’t 100 per cent in the first innings,” said Dravid while lauding the fast bowler’s heart to even bowl when he was injured.

Dravid has hinted at having a conversation with wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant over the timing of his shots. “We know Rishabh plays positively and he plays in a particular manner and that has got him a little bit of success. But of course there are times when we are going to have to have some sort of level of conversations around that,” he said.

“…it is just little bit or may be selection of the time to play that (shot),” Dravid added at the virtual post-match press conference.

---

Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.

Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .

---