World Cup winning former India head coach Rahul Dravid said the grammar of T20 batting has undergone a complete metamorphosis of late and bowlers have some serious “catching up to do.”

Dravid, who guided India to its second T20 World Cup triumph in 2024 in the Caribbean, is marvelled at how the young guns like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ayush Mhatre, Priyansh Arya along with world’s No. 1 ranked T20 batter Abhishek Sharma have entirely changed the approach in the Powerplay overs.

“In a sense, to see the quality of batting that has happened over the last two or three years, I think the bowlers in that format of the game will slowly have to do some catching up,” Dravid told PTI in an exclusive interview from Dublin, where he was unveiled as the owner of European T20 Premier League (ETPL)’s Dublin franchise.

The former India skipper and one of India’s most respected coaches raved about how batters are now hitting boundaries to parts of the ground which earlier seemed out of bounds.

“I think batsmanship and the ability to hit sixes and to access different parts of the ground has certainly improved leaps and bounds.

“Bowlers will have to keep working on their skills and keep developing. I am sure, some of them will be able to still stand out and hold their own,” said Dravid, who has coached IPL teams like Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals.

However, he had no hesitation in admitting modern batters have adapted to the requirements of the T20 game better than the bowlers. However, Dravid was confident of a change.

“I think if you look at it in terms of balance, probably a lot more batsmen are able to cope with the requirements of the modern T20 game than, say, some of the bowlers have been able to at this point of time. That may change in two or three years,” he added.

The scenario is, however, a bit different in Test matches where bowlers have had the upper hand in consistently producing result-oriented games.

“I mean, if you look at Test cricket today, nearly every Test match produces a result. So, I think bowlers are probably holding the sway in some of the Test matches that we are seeing.”

“You know, two-day matches, three-day matches. So, bowlers have started holding the sway in Test cricket.”

“So, it will be interesting to see over the next couple of years if bowlers are able to pull this back a little bit in T20s,” Dravid said.

But is it possible for bowlers to pull things back if the pitches are as flat as they have been in recent times? Dravid agreed that some help is needed for the bowlers.

“They may need a little bit of support, and I think the way is probably to have a little more challenging wickets to ensure that there is something in it for the bowlers, whether it is the tracks that turn or whether it is a little bit more pace and bounce that gives the bowlers a little bit more of a chance.”

“Because I don’t think we can increase the size of the boundaries and already there is no space to go and increase the size of the boundaries,” Dravid put forth his take.

Asked if two bouncers per over could be a logical solution, Dravid didn’t want to get into specifics.

“I mean, I think anything that might make it a little bit more…give the bowlers a little bit more of a chance. But I still think that in the next couple of years we may see bowlers bounce back a little bit and start getting a little bit more of a swing.”

“There is always this balance, and there are times when the bat holds the sway as we are seeing at the moment in white ball cricket and maybe in red ball cricket we are seeing the ball hold the sway a little bit.”

But Dravid also doesn’t want the game to be too skewed in favour of either batters or bowlers.

“I think at some stage we don’t want the balance to be too skewed either way, either on the side of the batsmen or the side of the bowlers,” he said.

It’s no secret that India’s men’s 4x100m relay team has long trailed the country’s more accomplished 4x400m squad at the continental and global level.

Though the team has qualified for major events such as the Asian Games (it didn’t compete in the 2018 and 2022 edition), Asian championships and World Relays qualification meets, it has consistently struggled with baton exchanges, lane infringement, consistency and depth.

The latest setbacks have only reinforced those concerns. At the Asian athletics championships in May 2025, the Indian quartet was disqualified because of an exchange-zone violation. Ironically, just a month earlier, almost the same core group — Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain — had clocked a National record of 38.69 seconds at the Indian Open relay competition in Chandigarh.

The errors persisted at the World Relays in Gaborone, Botswana, earlier this month. During the heats, Ragul Kumar, running the third leg, fell while attempting to pass the baton to Gurindervir, resulting in another disqualification. Harsh Santosh Raut and the more experienced Animesh had handled the opening two legs.

Greater exposure

Despite the disappointing run, national head coach James Hillier, who oversees the men’s 4x100m programme, remains optimistic. While taking responsibility for the poor results, he believes greater exposure, refinements and tweaks in training can help the team improve.

“It was a very high-pressure situation [at the World relays]. The team hadn’t even travelled overseas much, let alone compete at the World Relays. The standard was so high, so it was inevitable they would feel the pressure,” said Hillier, pointing to the team’s inexperience as a major factor.

He also felt the injury to Tamilarasu at the World Relays disrupted the combination. “That created an issue because once he got injured in the mixed relay, we had no choice other than to bring in Harsh, who had never run a relay before, and putting Ragul on the third leg was risky,” he explained.

Looking ahead to the Asian Games, Hillier, who is also the Athletics Director of the Reliance Foundation, said the Indian squad would compete in relay meets in Saudi Arabia and Taiwan to gain exposure before the Games.

“I’m very optimistic. We’ll get all our guys fit and try to put the best possible team together for the Games,” said the 48-year-old Briton.

Tejaswin Shankar won the men’s heptathlon event to clinch India’s lone gold as the country ended the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships campaign with five medals here on Sunday (February 8, 2026).

India finished overall sixth in the medals tally. China topped the chart with 34 medals — 10 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze.

On his way to winning the gold medal in the heptathlon, Shankar collected 5993 points to better his own national indoor mark of 5650 points set in 2021 in the USA.

Pooja (silver in high jump), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (silver in shot put) and Ancy Sojan (bronze in long jump) were other medal winners on Sunday (February 8, 2026).

On opening day on Friday (February 6, 2026), India’s high jumper Aadrash Ram Jothi Shankar had won a bronze.

Shankar, who was leading on Day 1, continued his good form in the next three events — 60m hurdles, pole vault and 1000m — on Sunday (February 8, 2026).

In the 60m hurdles, Shankar clocked a time of 8.02 seconds to earn 977 points. With two events to go, the Indian athlete was nearly 485 points ahead of his nearest rival.

Shankar was fourth in pole vault with a height of 4.20m. He earned 673 points to increase his tally to 5163 points. In 1000m, the last event of the day, Shankar finished second with a time of 2:43.91 (830 points) to increase his total to 5993 points.

Shankar also holds the national decathlon (outdoor) record of 7826 points, set last year in Poland. He also won silver in the decathlon at the 2023 Asian Games held in China.

In the men’s shot put, Tajinderpal Singh Toor claimed a silver with a season-best throw of 20.05m.

Toor’s other legal throws were 19.49m, 19.85m. His last two attempts were no marks. China’s Chengyu Chen took the gold with a throw of 20.07m.

Samardeep Singh Gill, the second Indian in the field, finished fifth with a throw of 18.97m.

In the women’s high jump, Pooja clinched a silver with a height of 1.87m.

Ancy Sojan added a bronze at the long jump arena. Her best jump on Sunday (February 8, 2026) was 6.21m. Her other two legal jumps were 6.02m and 6.20m.

Moumita Mondal finished sixth in the women’s long jump with a distance of 6.01m. Promising long jumper Shahnawaz Khan missed out on a medal as he finished fourth.

India faltered against the big-hitting Sameer Minhas and the extra zip of pacers, suffering a massive 191-run defeat against Pakistan in a one-sided 50-over Under-19 Asia Cup final, in Dubai Sunday (December 21, 2025).

Pakistan lifted their second U19 Asia Cup, and as it is the norm now, there was no formal greetings between the players of two teams.

Once Pakistan posted a mammoth 347 for eight, riding on Minhas’ 172 (113b, 17×4, 9×6) they needed a lion-hearted chase to clinch a ninth title in the tournament.

But the tall Pakistan pace troika — Ali Reza (4/42), Mohammad Sayyam (2/38) and Abdul Subhan (2/29) — hurried their top-order with consistent hard-lengths as India folded for 156 in 26.2 overs.

However, India’s chase began on an explosive note despite losing Ayush Mhatre early. Vaibhav Suryavanshi hammered Raza for two sixes and a four to take 21 runs in the first over.

Aaron George too began brightly, caressing Sayyam for three fours in a row in the fourth over as India raced off the block at 10 runs an over.

But the game’s course changed in the last ball of the fourth over. George was jostled into a pull by Sayyam, and all he could do was to sky the short-pitched ball to Mohammad Shayan inside the circle.

In the first ball of the fifth over, India suffered a body blow with the dismissal of Suryavanshi.

The left-hander went for a full-blooded pick-up shot off Raza, but the good-length ball, which had extra bounce on it, took the edge of the opener’s bat and nestled in the gloves of stumper Zahoor Hamza.

Raza and Pakistan fielders celebrated wildly, and a few words were exchanged before Suryavanshi trudged off dejected.

India slipped from 49 for 1 to 49 for three in the space of two balls, and it was just the beginning.

Vedant Trivedi and Kanishk Chouhan too fell to snorters as Pakistan pacers made the flat ICC Academy pitch look like the Road of Bones.

India’s last hope — even if feeble — was the presence of Abhigyan Kundu, and a drop on 12 off Subhan hinted at a possible shifting of fortune.

But all such hopes were trampled when Kundu’s upper cut two balls later after his reprieve found Niqab Shafiq at third man.

Earlier, Pakistan opener Minhas struck a brilliant century as Pakistan motored to a humongous total.

Minhas, the younger brother of Pakistan T20 player Arafat, went after every Indian bowler but was especially harsh on new-ball bowlers Kishan Singh and Deepesh Devendran.

Minhas brought up his century off 71 balls with a four in the 29th over off Devendran.

This was Minhas’ second hundred in the competition having cracked an unbeaten 177 against Malaysia in the opening group match.

Minhas’ six in the 28th over, where he used his feet to launch a Mhatre delivery high up in the air to deep mid-wicket, had class written all over it.

The 19-year-old looked set for a double century but he was tricked by a slower delivery from Devendran (3/83) to be caught at mid-on.

It was smooth sailing for Pakistan after Hamza Zahoor (18) departed early.

Zahoor’s dismissal brought in Usman Khan (35) and, together with Minhas, took the total to 123 — a partnership that yielded 92 runs.

Left-handed Ahmed Hussain, who too has enjoyed a rich vein of form in the tournament scoring a century and half-ton, struck a fine 56 before left-arm spinner Khilan Patel (2/44) enticed the middle-order batter to play the false sweep and gave a catch at mid-wicket.

His 137-run partnership with Minhas provided the deck for Pakistan to go for a big total.