The Rahul Dravid era has got off to a fantastic start as India white-washed New Zealand in the three-match T20I series. India playing under the stewardship of the former India captain showed ruthless approach as they disentailed the New Zealand in the final T20I at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Speaking after the match, the coach said, “It was a really good series win. Everyone played really well right through the series. It feels good, nice to start well. We are also quite realistic. We have to keep our feet on the ground and be a bit realistic about this win. Not easy for New Zealand to play a World Cup final and then to turn up three days later to play three games in six days, was never going to be easy for them.”
The 48-year-old further added, “There are a lot of games to be played, so we have to do that with some of our players and be realistic with the amount of cricket they can play. It's nice to see people step-up and do well at this stage. We have got just three or four boys who are going onto the Test matches. We'll ask them to have an early night because in a couple of days, they'll have to start getting up at 7:30 in the morning for a 9:30 start. So hopefully we can get a good night's sleep. The other boys can probably have a late night and enjoy themselves.”
The attention now moves to red ball cricket as Green Park stadium in Kanpur gears up for the opening Test match of the two-Test series. The Indian coach also highlighted that his team will have work to do in the coming months. ‘Man of the Series’ in the T20I series, Rohit Sharma will not be available for the Test series. Virat Kohli though will return to the fold for the second Test in Mumbai starting on December 3.
