Dravid applauds Kohli's call to play for India 'A'

Kohli’s presence will boost youngsters, says Dravid

Former Indian captain, Rahul Dravid praised Virat Kohli's decision to play for India 'A'. Kohli was given permission by the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) to play in the second unofficial Test against the Australia 'A' team.

Dravid said it shows Test captain's intent and keenness to prepare himself for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour.

"It is great. It is fantastic that Virat wants to come and play. In fact, he spoke to me almost three weeks ago wanting to play at least one match in the series," Dravid was quoted saying by IBNLive.com.

"It is nice that he is very keen to play and prepare himself for the Sri Lanka tour. He wants match practice and we are happy."

The India A coach added that it will be a great opportunity for the youngsters to prove themselves in front of national team captain.

"It is always nice to have the Indian captain (in team) and I think it will be great boost for lot of the young guys in the team who want to impress the captain. It is better way to do it in front of him. He is playing in the same eleven," he told the website.

Dravid later talked about the first unofficial Test that ended in a draw saying it was wicket that didn't bring the result.

"We knew that if we are to force a result, we need to get them at 40 for 3 early on. If they were to get the result they need to get 170 or so losing one or two wickets.

"It was a slow wicket and was not easy to score runs, especially off the faster bowlers. It spun a little bit later on but it is a classic five-day wicket. Unfortunately, for us to force a result was not really easy," he said.