KL Rahul did a very decent job, will get better as captain: Dravid

India's head coach Rahul Dravid said his team didn't play "smart cricket at crucial times" during the three-match One-Day International series against South Africa and that's why they were whitewashed 0-3. Meanwhile, KL Rahul didn't have a great tour as captain but Dravid feels that the 29-year-old will only get better in the coming days. 

India lost both the Test and ODI series in what turned out to be a disastrous tour of South Africa despite a bright start in the opening Test at Centurion, which the team won comprehensively.

"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 on 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," Dravid said when asked how he found Rahul as a leader, having lost all four games that he captained on tour.

Dravid felt that "execution of skills" was lacking in all the three ODIs that India lost. The series, according to Dravid, is a "good eye-opener" but there is still a lot of time before the 2023 ODI World Cup, and India should be getting better in the near future.

"I think this ODI series has been a good eye-opener for us. We have not played a lot of ODIs, this has been my first stint with the ODI side (India's second-string team played against Sri Lanka in July 2021 under Dravid's coaching). Even the team itself has not played many ODIs after the 2019 World Cup. Luckily, we have got time to go before the 2023 World Cup. It is going to be a lot of cricket in white-ball format till 2023.

"It is going to be a good opportunity for us to really reflect and learn and keep getting better. We will get better, there is no doubt about that. We certainly could do better with the batting in middle overs, we understand the template and we know a large part of that template is also dependent on the balance of your squad."

Dravid said the reason why Rahul was asked to open the batting was because the team management wants to give Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant as many games as possible in the middle-order. Pant smashed a stunning century in the second ODI but Shreyas Iyer could only manage scores of 17, 11 and 26.  

"We try to give them as extended a run as we possibly can, that was the whole idea even on this trip. If you see, we didn’t really change the middle order, except that Surya got a game in the last one. But otherwise, we didn’t really change the batting order at all. So we certainly want to give them that consistency, that security, and obviously, then you also got to demand performances and really big performances.

"That is an expectation when you play at this level, when you play for your country...The idea is to give as much stability as we possibly can. Rohit wasn’t here, so it opened up opportunities to give some of the other guys a bit of a run."

Talking about batting Pant ahead of Shreyas Iyer, Dravid said: "It’s not about 4 and 5. Whether you are batting at 4, 5 and 6, you’ve got to do what the team requirements are. On wickets that were slow and the ball was turning, we certainly felt as a strategy that the left-right was a definite advantage. In all the three games, he’s (Shreyas) gone in pretty early, he’s not had to just go in and slog.

"It’s not about individuals, we know guys have done well, we like to back them as much as we possibly can, we like to give them opportunities. Sometimes you’ll have good tours, sometimes it won’t work out, that’s just the way it is. Obviously, there tends to be a lot of competition, there are lot of people pushing for places, it’s not easy when you are in that kind of situation."

Dravid accepted that the Indian ODI team for the series didn't have the kind of balance required although he agreed that one can try and start looking at the template. "The guys who play at 6, 7, and 8 weren't available for selection and when they come back, the side will have a slightly different look," he said.

He agreed that till the 30th over in both the chases, they were in the game before some of the batters played poor shots. "We didn't play smart cricket at crucial times," he added.

India failed to chase down a target of 297 in the first ODI and lost the game by 34 runs. However, they put up a much better fight in the third ODI, but it was still not enough as they went down by just four runs. Playing his first game of the series, Deepak Chahar smashed 54 off 34 deliveries and that was the only reason why Indian managed to get close to South Africa's total. Meanwhile, in the first two encounters, it was Shardul Thakur who played crucial knocks of 50* and 40*.

"I mean Deepak Chahar has shown in the opportunities he has gotten with us in Sri Lanka and over here well, he has got some really good ability with the bat. We know what he can do with the ball as well. I have seen him at India A as well and I know he can bat really well so certainly gives us a lot more options," said Dravid.

"It is nice to have people like him and Shardul Thakur as well, who we have seen in the last couple of games, contribute with the bat as well. So, obviously, the more and more players like this who can contribute lower down, certainly makes a big difference and give us more options. So, certainly, we would like to give Deepak more games along with Shardul and lot of other people who can step up in the course of next year or so and give us depth in the side."

Venkatesh Iyer featured in the first two games but didn't really stamp his authority. The allrounder could only score 24 runs and didn't even bowl in one of the encounters. Dravid said that the team management will keep working with Venkatesh Iyer but the 27-year-old will have to fight for that allrounder spot with Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja also being in the mix.

"The idea is obviously to try and develop people like Venkatesh Iyer as sixth bowling options – whether it’s Venkatesh, whether it’s Hardik when he potentially comes back. We’ve got the option of even someone like a Jadeja who’s been batting really well, who we can potentially bat at 6 at times when he’s back from injury. So that will give us a lot more options as well, so yes we’re looking at various things. When you’re a sixth bowler in a team, it sometimes can happen that you’re not required to bowl.

"I know he’s batted at the top of the order for KKR and at times for MP in white-ball cricket, though he has batted in the middle-order for MP as well. In our team, we were looking for that kind of No. 6, someone who can be that sixth bowling option, that was the kind of role that we had for him here. Because we have quite a few options at the top of the order at this point of time; especially when Rohit comes back, there aren’t too many spots in the 1, 2 or 3 positions."

(With inputs from PTI)