'It's A Young, Developing Team', Rahul Dravid Defends Hardik Pandya And Co After T20I Series Loss Vs West Indies

Team India head coach Dravid analysed the performance of the tour of West Indies. India won two series, Tests and ODIs, while losing the T20Is by margin of 3-2.

Rahul Dravid, India head coach. (Source: ANI)

'That can happen,' said head coach Rahul Dravid after Team India lost another white-ball series. This time the defeat came in hands of the West Indies in T20Is, who had failed to qualify for the World Cup last year held in Australia. Dravid was speaking on team's performance in the T20Is vs West Indies, praising the 'young' team for making a strong comeback after being 0-2 down and also admitting that there were a 'few mistakes' made.

Not to forget, India did not have a smooth sail in ODIs too. The series was won 2-1, against a team which has very recently failed to qualify for another World Cup, the ODI one. More than the loss, the concerning is management's love for 'experimentation'. 

Brandon King lights up Lauderhill as the West Indies claim the #WIvIND T20I series!

Scorecard _: https://t.co/oCaQ0DoiWY pic.twitter.com/EHsYMEWLon — ICC (@ICC) August 13, 2023

Analysing the performance of Team India, Dravid reiterated that the 'goals of the tournament' were quite different. Dravid said that they had a good time during the Tests but regrets missing out on crucial ICC World Test Championship Points with the rain washing out the 2nd and final Test. "Very pleased with the Test matches. A little bit disappointed that we could not force a result in the second one due to rain. We lost a few points there but I thought we played very well," said Dravid.

The India head coach said that the ODIs gave them good lessons in lead up to the Asia Cup 2023 and ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023. "The One-Dayers were good as well. We were looking to try out a few things with the World Cup and the Asia Cup coming up. The goals of that tourament were slightly different what we were trying to achieve and I am glad we learnt some good lessons from that ODI series," said Dravid.

The only time Dravid was heard doing some sort of self-criticism was when he analysed the T20 performances. He admitted that there were some mistakes before adding that this is a young, developing team and such results can happen. "Here (T20Is) as well, we came back from 0-2 down but we could not close out the series. We made a few mistakes along the way. If you look at all the fives games there were some mistakes that we have made, in the first couple of games and today (5th T20) probably. We could not bat as well as probable we could have. But that can happen. 

"It's a young team. It's a developing team. So, there are going to be times when we are going to have our ups and downs. Of course, we are disappointed, we would have liked to get the right results but credit to the West Indies. They are a good T20 side, playing in their home conditions," concluded Dravid.