Indian cricket is extremely powerful because talent comes from all over the country: Rahul Dravid

Former India coach and cricket legend Rahul Dravid has praised the evolution of Indian cricket into an extremely powerful force on the global level. Speaking at the 50-year celebration of Mount Joy Cricket Club, Dravid attributed this strength to the talent pool that now spans the entire country, even reaching the most remote areas.

Historically, Indian cricket talent primarily emerged from major cities and a handful of states. However, Dravid feels a significant shift in this trend, with skilled players now coming from all corners of the nation.

This change has not only elevated the standard of domestic cricket but has also contributed to India's recent success on the international level, including their T20 World Cup win in June under Dravid's coaching.

"If you look at Indian cricket today, Indian cricket is extremely strong, it's extremely powerful. One of the big reasons for that is that talent comes from everywhere, from all over the country. Even if there were talented boys in smaller places, they had to come to the big cities to play cricket. But today I think you see in Indian cricket that boys are coming from everywhere," Dravid said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

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We need clubs to be strong: Rahul Dravid

The impact of this talent scattering is evident in the competitiveness of domestic tournaments like the Ranji Trophy. The former feels that these days no team can be taken for granted, rather can be taken a little lightly.

"You just look at the standard of the Ranji Trophy. In the old days when you played in the South Zone, other than playing Hyderabad or Tamil Nadu, I think it is fair to say, without being disrespectful, that a lot of other teams you could take it not for granted but you could certainly take it a little bit more lightly," he added.

The former India captain stressed the importance of maintaining strong club cricket structures, particularly in states like Karnataka. He advocated for an egalitarian approach to cricket development.

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Dravid also emphasized the need for accessible infrastructure, asserting that talent and facilities should not be limited to a few locations.

"We need clubs to be strong. We need cricket not to be concentrated in the hands of a few people. We need cricket to be egalitarian, we need it to be all over the place. You cannot have talent or facilities concentrated only in one or two places. To get the best out of talent, we need to ensure that young boys and girls are getting access to good infrastructure in every part," he further continued.