Rahul Dravid lauds youngsters after the second T20I against Sri Lanka

India will have some major pointers to look at when Sri Lanka comes knocking on the door for the series finale at Saurashtra after a defeat in the second contest. Not everyone was happy with the developments as India struggled to get their belongings in place while Rahul Dravid made a strong statement ahead of the final battle of the series.

The squad that is involved in the fight with the Lankans has a lot of new faces and its members are touted to be the forbearers of India’s excellence in the shortest format of the game. However, the Indian preceptor had a different way of viewing things as he made it clear that these opportunities should be used to the fullest by the youngsters as that would help Team India build a strong contingent for the upcoming T20 World Cup in 2024.

Talking in the post-match conference, Rahul Dravid said, “For us, obviously, from the last semi-final (in the T20 World Cup) that we played against England, only 3-4 boys are playing in the XI (against Sri Lanka). We are slightly in a different stage of looking at the next cycle of T20, so ours is a slightly younger team and for us to play against the quality of Sri Lanka is a fantastic experience. The good thing is that a lot of focus is on the ODI World Cup and World Test Championship, so the T20s give us the opportunity to try out these guys.”

Although Arshdeep Singh drew some flak from the fan base, the Head coach came to his defence, saying, “Nobody wants to bowl wides or no-balls, in this format it can hurt you badly. We've got to be patient with these young kids. There are a lot of young kids playing, especially in bowling, and they will have games like this at times. We need to understand that. We try to help them technically, we support them and create the right environment. They are very skillful, they are learning. It's tough to learn on the job in international cricket, so we must be patient.”

He concluded by talking about the Indian chase, adding, “We lost a few wickets. Things could have been different if we had had wickets, but we still got close. There was a lot of dew so they couldn't complete their spinners, it did a bit for seamers but other than that, it was a good wicket. The decision to bowl first was fine. If we would have done better in a few areas, we could have gotten the right result."