Lot more research about young talent is done in IPL: Rahul Dravid

India A and under-19 coach Rahul Dravid who also mentor’s the Delhi Daredevils team in the Indian Premier League has shared his views on the research put behind to unearth young talents from across the globe by IPL teams.

In a chat with SONY ESPN Dravid said, “Some of the conversations that happen around IPL teams, these conversations are not happening outside. They are not happening in television studios as I have been on television studios, I know it. The depth of conversation that’s happening about the T20 game within a team and within that environment is not happening anywhere else, which is what makes the T20 game unique.”

“I wouldn’t say there is no knowledge outside but there is not as much knowledge, I feel. And there are people who’ll make comments like, ‘Why is he doing this? Why is he doing that?’ without actually understanding the dynamics of why it happens, what happens inside,” former Indian skipper added.

Research on Young talents:

Prior to the 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, Delhi Daredevils released Yuvraj Singh, who they had bought for INR 16 crore in 2015. Which indicates that they have switched ideas and are willing to invest in young talents. DD signed up quite a few U19 players and the uncapped spinner Pawan Negi got a whopping INR 8.5 crore.

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Negi, however, featured in just 8 matches out of 16 and bowled only 9 overs in the 8 matches. After the tournament, he claimed that Daredevils did not back his skills with either bat or ball.

Dravid revealed, “There is a lot more research being done. There is a lot more knowledge about young Indian domestic talent than there was say three or four years ago. Suddenly, everyone has access to a lot of these young Indian domestic talents and every team comes really well prepared to the auction. It’s very rare to find young Indian talents that are unheard of and you can pick out of nowhere for really cheap.”

“I think today most teams recognise that you need domestic talent, and all the talent is in the auction. A lot of times I have gone into auctions and said, “Okay, we’ll get this player cheap because not many know him. All it requires is one other team to value that player and have money to spend and, you know, you could end up losing him because you can’t match up in the auction,” he added.

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He also pointed out the case of the West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite, saying, “Who would have thought that he (Brathwaite) would go for the price [INR 4.2 crore] he did, but obviously KKR who have a team in the CPL (Trinbago Knight Riders) knew about him as much as the people who are looking at the Delhi team knew about him. I think auctions are quite dynamic and they sort of vary all the time.”

“I think after some time, at least to the coaches and to the mentors, I don’t think people bring up the money issue so much, at least that’s my experience,” he signed-off.