Coach Rahul Dravid feels good, underlines need to keep feet on the ground

Kolkata, Nov 21 (UNI) The New Team India Head Coach Rahul Dravid on Sunday said it feels good to complete 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand, but the team needs to be realistic as it was not easy for the Blackcaps to play a World Cup final and then turn up for three games in six days.

“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 NZ 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,” he said.
“But, it was nice from our perspective, but we have to learn from this series and move forward. It is a long journey ahead over the next 10 months and the team will have their share of ups and downs,” Dravid added.
Asked about the lessons the team learnt from this series, Dravid said it has been really good to see some of the young players come through and given a chance to some of the boys who haven’t played a lot of cricket over the last few months. “We have seen some of the skills available to us and we have to keep building on those skills as we go forward,” he added.
Asked if it will be a nice feeling for him to pull off the series without the main players, Dravid said with some the players coming back into the side will definitely make the side stronger, but it is really great to see the options the team has.
“We can mix and match. We can look at different players at different places. It’s going to be a long season from hereon till the next World Cup. There’s 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 is nice to see people step-up and do well at this stage,” he said.
Asked how long he is going let the boys enjoy the series win, Dravid said there are three to four boys who are going onto the Test matches.
“We will ask them to have an early night because in a couple of days, they will 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,” he said.
The other boys can probably have a late night and enjoy themselves, Dravid said.