Great blend of experienced players and fresh players: Dravid on Indian squad for Sri Lanka

It was quite an unusual sight to watch Rahul Dravid and Shikhar Dhawan attend the press conference as the India captain and head coach of the team. In recent times, the media fraternity has gotten used to the usual pair of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri take the questions from them.

While the main squad has dispersed in England and will reassemble only in mid-July for the series against England, a new-look side comprising short format specialists under stand-in coach Rahul Dravid is set to leave for Sri Lanka.

On the eve of the team’s departure to Sri Lanka, Rahul Dravid touched upon several aspects, including the possibility of giving every player in the squad a chance to feature in the game.

On the squad

"It’s a great blend of experienced players and fresh players. As a coach, it’s quite an exciting situation because you know if you create a good environment, everyone will learn a lot," Dravid said. 

"We have to be together as a large group, there are opportunities to learn and grow. It’s a good chance for me as well, as a coach you’re always learning from every experience. You learn about yourself and about cricket. It’s another opportunity for me to learn and improve. I’m quite excited."

On giving everyone an opportunity

"...I think it's probably going to be unrealistic to expect us in a short tour like this with three games, or three one-dayers to give everyone an opportunity...and the selectors will be there as well," said Dravid.

On series being a preparation for World Cup

"There are a lot of people in this squad who are pushing for places or looking to cement their places in the World Cup coming up, but I think the key goal of everyone in the squad and in the team...is to try and win the series. The primary objective is to try and win the series and hopefully people get the opportunity to put in some really good performances. These are the only three games before the World Cup,” said the former India captain.

"I am sure that you know the selectors and management would have a pretty fair idea by now as to what is the kind of squad that they are looking for,” added Dravid.