"He is just starting out his journey as captain" - Coach Dravid defends KL Rahul after South Africa blank India 3-0
Team India head coach Rahul Dravid defended stand-in skipper KL Rahul after the visitors were blanked 3-0 in the ODI series in South Africa. Dravid asserted that the 29-year-old is just beginning his journey as a captain and will learn with experience.
Chasing 288, India went down to South Africa by four runs in the final ODI in Cape Town on Sunday. Deepak Chahar’s 54 gave India hope of victory but they eventually stumbled to 283 all-out.
Asked for his observations on Rahul’s captaincy, Dravid said that the batter did a decent job. Speaking at a virtual press conference following India’s defeat, the 49-year-old stated:
“I thought he did a good job. Not easy for him, obviously, to be at the wrong side of the results. He’s got to learn, he's just starting out his journey as a captain. A large part of captaincy is also the execution of the skills of the players and the quality of the side that you have got. We were a little bit short in the one-day side of things. I thought he did a very decent job. (He is) someone who is growing and will constantly improve and get better as a captain.”
That's that from the final ODI. South Africa win by 4 runs and take the series 3-0.
Scorecard - bit.ly/SAvIND-3rdODI #SAvIND https://t.co/lqrMH4g0U9
Rahul did not have a memorable tour of South Africa as captain. Before the ODIs, he led the side in the Johannesburg Test after Virat Kohli was declared unfit. India ended up losing the Test by seven wickets.
“At times our shot selection has been poor” - KL Rahul
Reflecting on the 3-0 series defeat in the ODIs, Rahul conceded that India’s shot selection was poor. Speaking at the post-match presentation following the heartbreak in Cape Town, he admitted:
"Deepak gave us a real chance of winning the game. Quite an exciting game, just disappointed we ended up on the losing side. We gave ourselves a real chance, something we can learn from and get better. Quite obvious where we've gone wrong. No shying away from it. At times our shot selection has been poor.”
Plenty of questions for Rahul Dravid as he ends this tour as coach. I am sure he will get it back on track but he will have to take some tough calls. On away tours to rest the best fast bowlers for example makes no sense. Rest Shami in India. Spinners do the job here. Not in SA.
The 29-year-old lamented that even with the ball, they did not hit the right areas consistently. Rahul concluded:
“Have played well in patches but haven't built pressure over a long period. Can't fault the boys for the passion and effort. In terms of skill and understanding the situation - sometimes we've gone wrong. But it happens - we've got some new guys in the team."
The stand-in captain had a poor ODI series with the bat as well, registering scores of 12, 55 and 9.