Rahul Dravid wants team to stay grounded after series whitewash

It was Rahul Dravid’s second assignment as the head coach of the Indian team, after his stint with the Shikhar Dhawan-led team in Sri Lanka. While India were on the losing side in his first assignment, in his second one here against New Zealand, Dravid’s side emerged as 3-0 winners. 

Across all three games, India showed excellent control, precision and dominating brand of cricket. Following the 3-0 win, Dravid in the post-match presentation warned the team to stay grounded and insisted that it was a ‘tough series’ for New Zealand with the schedule. 

"I think it was a really good series win. Everyone played well right through the series. It's nice to start well but we are realistic and we need to keep our feet on the ground. It's not easy for New Zealand to show up after a World Cup final and play three games in six days,” Dravid said. 

The Indian head coach also insisted that the team has a lot of learning to do on their way forward but credited the efforts of the debutants through the series. 

“We have to keep our feet on the ground and learn some things on the way forward. It's been really good to see some of the younger guys come through. We gave opportunities to some guys who haven't played a lot of cricket in the last few months with some more experienced guys taking a break,” he added.

However, the former Indian skipper reckoned that there will be no place for complacency, with the players needing to keep developing their skills going forward. Dravid did touch upon the workload, stating that the management will have to be realistic of how much game time experienced players might get in the future. 

“We've seen some good learnings and going forward we need to keep developing those skills going forward. It's really great to see that we've got options and can mix and match. It's going to be a long season between now and the next World Cup being realistic with how much cricket some of our experienced players will play.”

“There's only three or four guys from here going on to Kanpur for the Tests and will need to be up at 7:30 am, so maybe the other guys will be able to have a late night and enjoy themselves." 

India will now lock horns with the same opposition in a two-match Test series, starting November 25 (Thursday).