“All the 3 guys who made their debuts for us stood up” - Rahul Dravid on positives from West Indies tour
Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has picked the performances of debutants as one of the biggest positives from their tour of West Indies. According to Dravid, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, and Mukesh Kumar’s impressive showing augurs very well for the future of Indian cricket.
India’s tour of West Indies concluded on Sunday, August 13 with a loss to West Indies in the deciding T20I. Earlier, the visitors won the Test series 1-0 and the ODIs 2-1. Jaiswal made his Test and T20I debuts during the tour, Varma made an outstanding T20I entry, while pacer Kumar also did reasonably well after being handed India caps in all three formats.
Speaking at a press conference following India’s loss in the fifth and final T20I, Dravid admitted that the visitors are disappointed to have ended their journey on a losing side. He, however, asserted that the performance of debutants in various formats was a highly pleasing aspect of the tour.
“You get into any series wanting to win it. That was the first thing that we wanted to do. We didn’t tick that off. We didn’t win the series, so that was a disappointment. Other than that, there were a few young guys that we wanted to trial out.
"We gave a few debuts in this series as you would have noted. There were other people that we tried out as well in various combinations. From that perspective, there were some good positives. We can certainly look forward to the future with a lot of hope,” Dravid said.
Praising Jaiswal, the Indian coach commented:
“I think all the three guys who made their debuts for us in this series stood up. Yashasvi Jaiswal, in that fourth game, he played a really good innings at the top of the order. He showed his ability. He’s shown us what he can do in the IPL and it was nice for him to be able to replicate that on the international scene.”
On Varma, Dravid opined that the 20-year-old stood up in challenging conditions and proved his capability.
"Tilak Varma was really good. To come in the middle-order and sometimes in quite difficult situations, but every time he played with a lot of intent, played very positively, looked to move the game along. He fielded brilliantly throughout the series, showed us that he can bowl one or two overs as well, so really positive signs from Tilak," he said.
"To have that left-hander in the middle does make a huge difference against some of the attacks that we are playing against,” the 50-year-old elaborated.
Varma finished as India’s leading run-getter in T20Is, smashing 173 runs in five matches at an average of 57.67 and a strike rate of 140.65.
“His ability to bowl at the death” - Dravid on what impressed him most about Mukesh Kumar
Dravid was also highly impressed with how pacer Kumar accepted the various challenges thrown at him. The Indian coach stated that the bowler was asked to deliver tough overs at the death and did a good job against big-hitting West Indies batters.
“Mukesh as well, he debuted in all the formats in the series, but I thought he acquainted himself very well. His ability to bowl at the death - sometimes he was called upon to bowl some really difficult overs against some really big, powerful hard-hitting batsmen. There are some real good positives from the guys who made their debut for us. Hopefully, they will take confidence from this series and keep learning as they go forward,” Dravid concluded.
Kumar picked up two scalps in the Port of Spain Test and was economical as well. He claimed four wickets in three ODIs at an average of 17.25 and three scalps in the five-match T20I series.