England players’ experience of playing BBL helped, says Dravid

ADELAIDE: An extensive experience of playing in the Big Bash League in Australia contributed to Jos Buttler and Alex Hales’s dominance over India in the second T20 World Cup semi-final, said head coach Rahul Dravid on Thursday.

Hales (86 not out) and Buttler (80 not out) added 170 runs in just 16 overs to decimate India by 10 wickets in a high-profile last-four match. Opening batter Hales has played the maximum amount of BBL among the current English group, having represented Melbourne Renegades and Sydney Thunder.

“I mean, sure, there is no doubt about the fact that England… a lot of its players have come here and played. In this tournament, it certainly showed. It is tough,” Dravid said. Buttler too has played for Thunder and both the England openers have plied their trade against local team Adelaide Strikers at the Adelaide Oval here.

Asked about BCCI’s rule to not allow any active Indian player to compete in overseas T20 leagues, Dravid replied: “I think that it is very difficult for Indian cricket because a lot of these tournaments happen right in the peak of our season. I think that it is a huge challenge for us. Yes, a lot of our boys maybe do miss out on the opportunities of playing in a lot of these leagues. But if you were to, it is really up to the BCCI to make that decision.”

He added: “With the kind of demand there would be for Indian players, if you allowed all of them to play in these leagues, we would not have domestic cricket. Our domestic trophy, our Ranji trophy, would be finished, and that would mean Test cricket would be finished.”

‘We were 20 runs short’

Dravid was the first one to admit that India fell short while posting 168 for six. “Maybe, when the game started, the boys were saying that it (the pitch) was a little bit tacky, it was a little bit slower. Having said that, they (the England bowlers) bowled really well.

“I thought that they were really good up front. They hit really good lengths, did not really let us get away. We felt at that 15-over mark, we were probably 15-20 runs short. We really had a good last five overs,” Dravid said.