In support of the widely condemned T20 World Cup leg held in United States last month, former India head coach Rahul Dravid has stated that cricket had to go through “compromises” like playing at odd hours and hard working conditions in order to make it popular.
According to PTI, Dravid said he was alright with 10.30 a.m. (local time) starts and the infrastructure used for the games in New York, Florida and Texas as there was a lot of work that went into organizing the tournament in the region.
“Yes, it’s hard where facilities are concerned but if you want to propagate your game well beyond your shores then you have got to come for events like this where you will be uncomfortable or have matches at odd hours or even play on imperfect terrain,” Rahul Dravid said during a panel discussion on ‘Cricket at the Olympics: Dawn of a New Era’ commemorating cricket’s inclusion in 2028 Los Angeles Games here on Sunday.
India won their first ICC title in eleven years under Dravid when they were jointly hosted by USA and West Indies for knockouts.
It was hoped that hosting its first-ever major cricketing event would enable USA develop a following domestically before Los Angeles Olympic Games.
However, all India matches were arranged around 10.30am to accommodate large subcontinental audience which sparked off some controversy suggesting Americans should also have been considered too.
“I don’t think starting at 10:30am was an issue for me honestly we are in an entertainment business which is about watching sport by people so I had absolutely no problem with it,” Rahul Dravid responded.
The early start according to former Indian captain made sure that both teams had equal chances of winning the game
“Dew comes into play quite often during day-night games so as far as conditions were concerned from a coaching perspective it was sort of even stevens…For example, toss played huge role just like we saw in Australia but at 10:30, it was not an issue; it was even-steven for both teams.
“I didn’t mind the 10:30 game as a coach,” he said.
While talking to ICC CEO Geoff Allardice, Rahul Dravid lauded the government’s brave decision to take this World Cup to USA.
“It was a great effort by the ICC to take the game to the USA and expose that audience to the game. There is a huge passion for the game in the USA. It was really nice to play in the USA; some of the games were packed,” he said.
