Johannesburg, (Asian independent) India head coach Rahul Dravid on Sunday said he was ‘disappointed’ that his team was docked a World Test Championship point for their slow over-rate in Centurion and acknowledged that his team needs to better this side of their game.
Notably, India were fined 20 per cent of their match fee and docked one point from their World Test Championship points tally for maintaining a slow over-rate during their first Test victory at the SuperSport Park in Centurion despite the match getting over on time after losing an entire day’s play to rain.
It took India’s tally of points lost to over-rate offences to three after they were docked two points post the Nottingham Test against England.
“The rules are the same for everyone. We understand that, we know that. It’s hard – I mean we’re playing four seamers, conditions were very hot in the two days that we bowled, and we’re trying. It’s an area we need to get better at. We’ve discussed that, we’ve had a few chats around it,” Dravid said.
“We got docked one over in this game – it is disappointing to lose points because each of these points, especially these overseas points, are really hard-earned, and we have to earn each and one of them. We need to get better at that, and we need to ensure that we’re not docked more points, because in the end, it would be very disappointing to miss out (on a place in the WTC final) because of over-rate points that get docked, so yeah, it’s something we need to work on,” he added.
Dravid pointed out that circumstances during the Centurion Test – when Bumrah needed an assessment after turning his ankle and when there was a confusion over which new ball India had chosen – as reasons for the slow overrate.
The 48-year old Dravid said he doesn’t mind the new rule put in place by the ICC but officials must have full understanding of situations before they decide to dock points, adding that the “leeway” can be given in certain cases.
“I think the ICC is trying something. It does feel harsh when you are a coach and it feels tough at times. It certainly gets us thinking it certainly gets us you know, wanting to pick it up. I mean, I think they’ve tried fines in the past and that doesn’t seem to work. They’ve tried other methods or methodologies in the past that don’t seem to work,” he said.
“So you know, the ICC is trying to go down the points route, which I’m fine with and I don’t have a particular issue. It’s been clearly communicated to us that this is the methodology. As long as there’s a bit of leeway and a bit of understanding when the game is on. You know, we had a few injury issues last time as well. Of course, we were given some leeway,
“But you know, sometimes it’s difficult to pinpoint how many minutes you lose, you know, when Jasprit Bumrah rolled over an ankle and the physios got to go in and spend a lot of time doing it. There are few other issues with the ball change last time,” he added.
