Dravid questions tournament scheduling

Rahul Dravid has said that it's disappointing to have an 11-day gap in between India's first and second game of the Champions Trophy, adding that it was a far from the ideal situation. India kick off their campaign against England at Jaipur tomorrow but it's only on October 26th that they make their re-entry.

"Even in the last Champions Trophy, we played against Kenya, had a long gap, and then played Pakistan in the last match." Dravid admitted at the pre-match press conference. "I understand that some of the scheduling is done keeping many things in mind and if you're playing the first game, you end up having to play the last game. It's a chance to go back, go home for Diwali, spend some time with family and then reassemble again. But again, ideally in a tournament like this, you wouldn't want to have a 11-day gap."

Scheduling a tournament usually involves more than just cricketing logic. To keep India in the tournament as long as possible is a solution to keep public interest alive and it comes as no surprise that they're playing the first and last game of the main part of the tournament. None of the other seven teams have to endure such a lull and to sustain the intensity would probably be one of India's big challenges.

For without intensity, they would struggle. England, on current form at least, are probably the softest opposition, allowing India to ease in to the competition, but Dravid wasn't willing to concede to that argument. "I don't think there are any soft starts in an eight-team competition," he added. "I've said this before that any of these eight teams can go on to win the competition. And I mean any one of them.

"We've seen with West Indies win in the last competition. People will be making a mistake by calling England a soft team and we're not looking at them as a soft team. They've got some good matchwinners and we're not taking them lightly. Not only can any of these eight teams win the Champions Trophy, but I'd say that in six months time, they can go on to win the World Cup. You're starting on a level playing field."