By IANS
Melbourne : Former captain Ravi Shastri wants Rahul Dravid to relax and keep off training before the Sydney Test and the rest of the team to be more aggressive if the Indians are to challenge Australia this southern summer.
Shastri said the game’s finest strokemaker should unclutter his mind.
“Dravid needs to take a chill pill,” Shastri said.
“He needs to go and relax, have a good New Year and stay away from the nets as much as possible and just go out and bat. He’s a great player.”
Shastri said the entire batting line-up needed to find a way to prosper against Australia’s menacing pace attack and the troubling spin of Brad Hogg, who confounded Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh with unplayable flippers.
“If they sit back now and think about what they did wrong, I think it will be to do with their strategy, going forward into the next Test,” Shastri said.
“They need to decide how to approach this Australian attack.
“They will have to think about who are the players who will take the attack to the opposition and who are the players who will hold the innings together.”
Dravid’s form remains a key concern heading into the second Test, starting on Wednesday at the SCG.
He took 41 balls to get off the mark in India’s first innings and eventually made just five, and didn’t look much better in the second when finishing with 16 off 114 balls.
The tourists will consider recalling former opener Virender Sehwag this week, meaning Dravid could slip back to his customary No. 3 spot or into the middle-order.
Shastri praised Australian skipper Ricky Ponting for his handling of wrist-spinner Hogg, who now appears to have rubber-stamped his spot for the rest of the summer.
“He (Hogg) will go into the next Test in a very positive frame of mind. But credit must be given to Ponting for giving him the confidence to bowl that long spell.”