Bengaluru: Former India cricketer and head coach Rahul Dravid outlined the importance of club cricket in building the requisite skill sets for a budding player here on Sunday.
Speaking during an event commemorating the golden jubilee of Mount Joy Cricket Club, Dravid mentioned how things have changed since his club cricket days, highlighting the rising standards in the domestic circuit.
“Karnataka cricket will be strong when club cricket will be strong. If you look at Indian cricket today, it is extremely strong, and one of the reasons is talent comes from anywhere. If you go back to the time of GR Vishwanath or during my career, most of the talent came from big cities. But today boys are coming from all over the country.
“You just look at the standard of the Ranji Trophy. In the old days when you played in the South Zone, other than playing Hyderabad or Tamil Nadu, I think it is fair to say, without being disrespectful, that we had it a bit easy against a lot of other teams," Dravid said.
“I don't think there is any team in the South Zone today that you can walk in and say that you will comfortably beat,” he added.
Dravid praised the club cricket structure in Karnataka and India, and stressed on the importance of providing good facilities to budding cricketers.
“We need clubs to be strong. Cricket should not be concentrated in the hands of a few people. We need cricket to be egalitarian, we need it to be all over the place. You cannot have talent or facilities concentrated only in one or two places. To get the best out of talent, we need to ensure that young boys and girls are getting access to good infrastructure in every part of the state and city,” Dravid outlined.
Former and current cricketers who came up through Mount Joy Cricket Club and went on to represent the state or India were felicitated. The list included Prasidh Krishna, BR Sharath, Rajesh Kamath, Rangarao Ananth, Yere Goud, Anand Katti, C Raghu, GK Anil Kumar, V Cheluvaraj, R Krishnappa and Aditya Somanna.
Mount Joy Cricket Club general secretary BK Ravi announced a new initiative wherein education and access to sports facilities will be taken care of for five cricketers.
Dravid spoke highly about those who work behind the scenes in clubs such as MJCC to ensure longevity and a bright future for cricketers.
"To run a club for 50 years is an incredible achievement. My congratulations to the many people behind the scenes who have sacrificed so much and contributed to the success. It is a fantastic achievement and a great contribution to Karnataka cricket and India cricket."