IND vs NZ 2021: “We have to keep our feet on the ground” - Rahul Dravid puts series win against Kiwis into perspective

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has stated that while the series win against New Zealand was a good one, they are 'realistic' about the result.

India got the better of a jaded Kiwi outfit in the three-match T20I series at home. The series in India kicked off just three days after New Zealand lost to Australia in the T20 World Cup 2021 final.

Reflecting on his first series win as Team India coach, Dravid said at a press conference that it was important to put the victory into perspective. He stated:

"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.”

Dravid was empathetic towards New Zealand and agreed that it was not an easy task for them to play the series immediately after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup. Dravid said:

"Not easy for NZ to play a World Cup final and then to turn up three days later and play three games in six days, was never going to be easy for them. It was nice from our perspective but we have to learn from this series and move forward. It's a long journey ahead over the next two years and we'll have our share of ups and downs."

India were dominant in the three-match series against New Zealand. After winning the first two games by five and seven wickets respectively, they thumped the visitors by 73 runs in the final T20I in Kolkata to complete a clean sweep.

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“Good to see some of the young guys come through” - Rahul Dravid

With seniors like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja rested, India gave an opportunity to IPL 2021 stars Venkatesh Iyer and Harshal Patel to make their international debuts.

While Harshal walked away with the Man of the Match in his debut game, Venkatesh also gave a decent account of himself.

Dravid said about the performance of the young guns:

"It's been really good to see some of the young guys come through. We have given opportunities 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. 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.”

India and New Zealand will now lock horns in a two-match Test series, beginning with the first match in Kanpur on November 25.