145;They need constant challenges146;

Playing for country isn8217;t the ultimate motivation for youngsters today, feels Dravid

Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid believes that playing for India was no longer motivation enough to offset the toll that too much of cricket is taking on international cricketers. To get consistent results the players need external sources of inspiration, he feels.

He said during a panel discussion here: 8220;My general answer for this motivation factor for a long time used to be 8216;why do we need to motivate someone who is playing for India?8217;. Every time you come on to play for your country, that itself is a motivation. But having led the side over a period of time I8217;ve realised that for the amount of cricket we play, we do need to motivate people.8221;

The comment from Dravid reignites the debate over excess cricket. However, taking a leaf out of Sandy Gordon8217;s book, the skipper has devised his own way of motivating his squad. 8220;One of the best ways we have found for motivation is to give them more and more challenges. If you give them the same rules time and again, make them do the same things, there is a chance that they may stagnate. For us to grow as a team, the individuals in the team need to grow.

8220;We8217;ve got to give them new challenges, give them new positions to bat in, may be hold them in different situations. Give them something that8217;s exciting constantly. If we can provide that, it really works well in fetching results,8221; said Dravid.

But, 8220;it8217;s different rules for different people. From cricket point of view, where we stand in the history of the game, what we would like to be remembered as at the end of our careers, people we can look up to, like mentors or great performers of the past, are all motivation factors for us,8221; opined Dravid.

The skipper believes that the toughest part of his job was to tell people that they are not in the team, but thinks 8220;honesty is the best way to get the message across to a non-performer. I think we8217;ve to be honest to people. Not that we8217;re trying to find a solution for them. We always believe that we try to make every one a better player,8221; he said.

8220;Then I think you have a better chance of getting that message across,8221; Dravid said.

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He said the team attached great value to discipline and there were certain 8220;non-negotiables8221; that helped in creating a bond in the team.

8220;To make the team of superstars work together along with people who are not that much experienced, one of the things we do in the Indian team is that we work in a system of what we call as non-negotiables. There are certain things and certain principles that we believe are not negotiable by anyone whether he8217;s the best player in the team or whether he8217;s just coming into the side. Things like punctuality or dress code or attendance of certain meetings or practice timings or pad that one wears on the cricket field, are not negotiable,8221; Dravid informed.

But the Indian captain is confident that his team was 8216;fully equipped8217; to do well in Caribbean conditions.

8220;Our chances in the World Cup are good. Hope we play to our potential. We have the talent and it8217;s only a question of our performance now. World Cup is a unique event. If you get on a bit of a roll there, you can crack whatever the opposition you are facing, like we did the last time. It8217;s the performance in the two months, that matters,8221; said Dravid.