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Dravid wants Patel to step into his shoes
Bangalore, June 19: Vice-captain Rahul Dravid dropped enough hints today to suggest that doubling up as wicket-keeper in one dayers is more out of reluctance and he wants Test stumper Parthiv Patel to step into his shoes in shorter version of the game as well. Dravid favoured India going in for a specialised wicket-keeper-batsman in
one-dayers keeping the future in mind and gave his vote of confidence to Patel, who has been doing the job in Test matches.
Dravid's views come barely a week after skipper Sourav Ganguly's comment that he would have to stick with the vice-captain to discharge that role as it helps the team in terms of balance and batting depth. "If you can find somebody who can do the job as good as Dravid has done in the past two years for the team, then we might start thinking. But at the moment, he is doing such a wonderful job, we will have stick with him," Ganguly said here on Sunday.
Asked by reporters here if he enjoyed keeping wickets in one-dayers, on the sidelines of a fitness camp for Asia Cup probables here, Dravid said: "I look upon it as a challenge. I keep saying this again. It's a challenge and it's not something that (wicket-keeping) comes to me naturally". "I am not a natural wicket-keeper and it's not something I have done for 15 years. So, I look upon it as a challenge. I try and do my best," Dravid said.
Stating that Patel has come along very well in batting, Dravid pointed to his scoring three 60s in three test matches against the likes of Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Sami. "So, that (Patel's performance) is a great sign for India. I hope that he (Patel) will be given the opportunities to become a full-fledged wicket-keeper-batsman that India probably needs in the future," he said.
Asked if he personally thought it's time India had a specialised wicket-keeper-batsman in one-dayers, "The Wall" responded: "What I personally believe, what I personally don't believe is not relevant at this point of time. It's important to understand that you play as a team...playing as a team member. Sometimes, what's personally relevant and personally important to you.....that's not always the matter". (Agencies)
Published: Saturday, June 19, 2004
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