At the age of 39, Rahul Dravid is past his prime. But known for his complete dedication, Dravid can well be expected to again rise to the occasion and lead Rajasthan Royals from the front. Maintaining that motivation to keep going though, he admits, is a bit tough now.
“It is easy when you are playing cricket throughout the season. It is difficult to maintain that level of motivation for a particular tournament. But, I have been training and working on fitness since two and half months. There are some targets which are yet to be fulfilled and I am more than eager to play in the IPl and lead Royals. I think I am pretty close to what I had in my prime,” Dravid told reporters on Friday after his team’s practice session.
Dravid also said that fast-bowlers Fidel Edwards and Shaun Tait will make Royals a strong force. “In T20, two types of fast-bowlers will get success — who have a lot of varieties and others who bowl really quick. We are lucky that we have two fast-bowlers in Edwards and Tait. We want to use our quick bowlers as enforcers and want them to bowl really quick. There is a shock value attached to a pace bowler and we want to utilize that,” said Dravid.
About Shane Watson’s availability, the skipper said that Watson will be arriving on Friday night. He also said that the pitch for Saturday’s match against Delhi will yield a lot of runs. “It looks like a typical T20 wicket. With the boundaries are very short, it will offer plenty of runs,” Dravid added.
Meanwhile, David Warner rued that the absence of Kevin Pietersen, Jesse Ryder and Virender Sehwag would make Daredevils weaker, but he felt that some other players needed to step up now. “No doubt that they are effective players. But, we have good players on our bench. It is about some of the guys to take up the responsibilities. Against KKR, we played some silly shots and fielding was not upto the mark. So, we need to bat, bowl and field well now,” the Australian said.