Rahul Dravid was recently appointed as the coach of the Indian squad for the tour of Sri Lanka. In a recent press conference, he pointed out that winning the series is their primary objective. Starting on July 13, the Indian team led by Shikhar Dhawan will take on the Lankans in a white-ball series.
Ahead of the departure, the coach alongside the skipper interacted with the media. He felt that the upcoming series has come at the right time because the youngsters can stake their claim for the T20 World Cup.
“There are a lot of people in the squad who are pushing for places ahead of the T20 World Cup. But the key goal, and we’ve had discussions around it, is to try and win the series. That is the primary objective. Hopefully, if people can get the opportunity to put in some good performances in the course of us trying to win the series, they will give themselves the best chance of knocking on the doors of the selectors,” Dravid said.
What does the #SLvIND limited-overs series mean for everyone involved with the Indian team? 🤔
Here's what Rahul Dravid – #TeamIndia Head Coach for the Sri Lanka series – has to say 🎥 👇 pic.twitter.com/ObUgFdhStj
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 27, 2021
By no means is it a life and death kind of situation – Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid, who has experience coaching inexperienced players, stated that a failure in the Sri Lanka series won’t mean the end of the world for the newcomers. The selection process for the World Cup won’t be based on the upcoming tour entirely according to him.
“There are a lot of young kids, even if they don’t play, it’s a great opportunity to be on a trip with the Indian team and interact with seniors like Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya. There’s a lot they can learn from that experience. They’ll all be keen to do well and set some sort of markers for the selectors. But by no means is it a life and death kind of a situation. It doesn’t mean if you don’t have a good tour, you won’t make it. Or if you have a great tour, you’ll be an automatic pick.” Rahul Dravid asserted.
When asked about his thoughts on the BCCI sending two different teams at the same time for two different tours, Rahul Dravid mentioned that the pandemic might have forced their hand.
“This is a unique situation in terms of quarantines and rules that have led to this situation. India probably had no option for this tour. I’m not sure if it is a long-term solution because there are many more stakeholders involved. It’s becoming difficult for the same set of players to go through all the restrictions in place to play all formats. So yes, in the short term a good idea but for the long term, it’ll need lot more discussions,” Rahul Dravid observed.
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