Rahul Dravid: Series defeat against SA an eye-opener for India

Handling the middle overs is an area that needs to be worked on with both bat and ball, says the head coach.

Rahul Dravid...“There are a lot of learnings from this tour.”

India head coach Rahul Dravid termed the one-day series defeat as an eye-opener for his side after it was blanked in the three-match series by South Africa in Cape Town on Sunday.

“This series has certainly been a good eye-opener for us. I think it’s going to be a good opportunity for us to reflect and learn and look to keep improving and getting better. We will get better and we will improve no doubt about it,” said Dravid.

The former Indian captain identified handling the middle overs as an area that needs to be worked on with both bat and ball.

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“We could do better with the batting in the middle overs. I think some of the guys who help us balance the squad out and give us those all-around options at six seven, eight are not here. So hopefully, when they come back, it will give us a little bit more of a depth, which allows us to play in a slightly different style,” Dravid explained.

Speaking about the spinners not doing well, the former Indian great said, “Without just signalling out the spinners we need to probably improve our wicket-taking options in middle overs. Spinners play a big role in that but even with the quicks coming back and the kind of balls we bowl. We do understand that is an area of the game where we have been behind a little bit.”

“There are a lot of learnings from this tour. We need to keep getting better and get the personnel to be able to do those things that we are probably slightly lacking.”