“South Africa was a little bit of a disappointment” - Rahul Dravid on his journey so far as Team India’s head coach 

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has termed the Test series loss in South Africa as a 'disappointment' while looking back on his eight-month stint with the team so far.

The 49-year-old Dravid took charge as India's coach after Ravi Shastri’s tenure ended following the T20 World Cup in the UAE last year. One of Dravid's early assignments was the tour of South Africa. India won the Boxing Day Test in Centurion, but the visitors lost the other two games to lose the series.

In an interview uploaded on bcci.tv, Dravid said that India squandered a great opportunity to clinch their maiden Test series win in South Africa. He said:

“When I look back on the eight months, South Africa was a little bit of a disappointment in terms of the Test series - going 1-0 up there and not being able to do the job, especially with the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.”

After registering an impressive 113-run win in Centurion, India lost the second Test in Johannesburg by seven wickets and went down in Cape Town by the same margin.

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“Our white-ball cricket has been pretty good” - Rahul Dravid

Shifting focus to the other formats of the game, the head coach said that Team India have done rather well in ODIs and T20Is. He said:

"Our white-ball cricket has been pretty good. We were able to come back from there (South Africa) and get on a bit of a roll in the T20 games. Even here (ongoing T20Is against South Africa), with a squad that doesn’t have a lot of our main players, we’ve been able to fight back brilliantly. It shows a lot of character in the team, the kind of quality and depth that we have.”

Before the IPL, India beat West Indies at home in a limited-overs series. They also got the better of Sri Lanka in three T20Is and two Tests. They are currently due to face South Africa in the last T20I of a five-match series in Bengaluru, with the series tied at 2-2.

Asked how excited he was to see young Indian talents coming through in IPL 2022, Dravid said:

“It was fantastic and incredible to see the kind of talent that we have, especially in the fast bowling side of things, just to see the speed some of our bowlers were clocking. Young boys coming through. With two new teams on display this year, a lot more youngsters got a chance to show their skills rather than sitting on the bench. And a lot of them came good. Good signs for Indian cricket.”

Young fast bowlers Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh, who impressed during the IPL, were picked in the squad for the ongoing series against South Africa. They have been retained for the two T20Is against Ireland as well.