We are very satisfied and happy: Rahul Dravid opines on preparation against England

India head coach Rahul Dravid is satisfied with the team’s preparation for the one-off Test match against England.

India faced Leicestershire in a four-day practice match at Grace Road from June 23-26. The likes of Srikar Bharat, Rishabh Pant, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Shreyas Iyer scored half-centuries. In the bowling unit, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, and Jadeja were impressive. 

Dravid reckoned that the Indian team has ticked all the boxes in terms of the preparation for the series decider. 

“I think whatever we needed to achieve and whatever boxes we needed to tick in terms of our preparation leading into the Test match on Friday, I think we are very satisfied and happy, we have been able to do that this week,” Dravid said in a video posted by Leicestershire Foxes on Twitter.

The 49-year-old thinks in a one-off game like this, the team has to be at their absolute best from the first day to set the tone right for the entire Test match. 

“When you have got just one game or one-off game in a series, its not really a lot of time, you’ve got to hit the ground running hard and you’ve got to be able to hopefully get your act together right from the first day of the Test match.

Dravid added that the Grace Road pitch was challenging in the first couple of days, but settled down in the subsequent days. 

“There is not a lot of room to maneuver or things to go wrong. So having said that it has been a good week. I thought the match wicket was challenging on the first couple of days and settle down in the last two so, it was good, it was a great week.” 

This will be the final fixture of the Test series played in 2021, which was postponed due to the covid cases in the Indian camp. It will get underway from July 1 (Friday) at Birmingham. 

Ahead of this fixture, England will be upbeat after completing a Test series whitewash against New Zealand.