India coach Rahul Dravid lauds Dinesh Karthik for banging the door down with his solid performance

Bengaluru, June 20: Indian cricket team head coach Rahul Dravid has claimed that the team management is going to pick up India's World Cup squad soon but hasn't specified any particular time frame for it. The five-T20I series between India and South Africa ended in a 2-2 draw.

Team India suffered two defeats in the first two games of the series but came back strongly in the next matches to level the series 2-all. Stand-in captain Rishabh Pant may have failed to impress as the batsman but the 24-year-old certainly impressed with his captaincy moves in the series.

India vs South Africa 5th T20I: Full List of Award Winners, Man of the Series, Post-match Presentation India vs South Africa 5th T20I: Full List of Award Winners, Man of the Series, Post-match Presentation

After the fifth and final T20I between India and South Africa was abandoned due to rain at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Dravid addressed the press conference and spoke at length about Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dinesh Karthik, and the brand of cricket he wants his side to play.

Praising the senior India cricketer Karthik - who made his comeback to the national side during the series on the back of solid performances in the IPL 2022 - garnered a lot of praise from the head coach. Dravid - the former India captain - went on claiming that the 37-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman for banging the door down with his performance.

Attacking brand of cricket

Speaking about his team's performance and the attacking brand of cricket the Men in Blue played in the series, the 52-year-old said, "We were looking to play a slightly positive and attacking brand of cricket right from the very beginning. It is not always going to come off, but we were certain of the brand of cricket we want to play. We are going to start looking to form the World Cup squad as quickly as possible. Whether it is going to happen in the next series or the series after that, it is hard to tell but certainly, we are looking to do that as quickly as possible."

Dinesh Karthik's performance

Speaking about the senior wicketkeeper-batsman's half-century in the Rajkot T20I, Dravid said, "It was very nice to see Dinesh Karthik come off and do what he has been really picked to do. It opens up a lot more options for us going forward. An innings like that, I have been telling the guys that you need to start banging the door down right, not about knocking the door, it is about banging the door down. And an innings like that, certainly means he (Karthik) is knocking very hard."

Pant's captaincy

Talking about Rishabh Pant's captaincy Dravid said, "It was good. To bring a team from 0-2 to 2-2 with a chance to win the series, is good. Captaincy is not just about wins and losses, you can't do that. I think he is a young captain and he is growing and learning. Too early to judge him, it is not something you want to do after one series or few games. But, it is nice he has got some opportunity to show that. He gets an understanding of what is like to lead, to keep, and bat so a lot of load on him. It is a question of him learning and gaining from that. Credit to him, he was able to work with the team."

Pant's batting

Analysing Pant's batting in the series, Dravid said, "When you are in the middle overs and you are asking people to play a little more attacking brand of cricket, looking to take the game on, sometimes it is very hard to judge on the basis of 2-3 games. I thought he (Pant) had a pretty good IPL, in terms of you know, might not have looked good in averages, but I thought his strike rate was good in the IPL. In that process, he might go wrong but he remains an integral part of our batting lineup with the power he has and what he can do. He has played some good knocks, of course personally he would have liked to score a few more runs but it is not that concerning. He is certainly part of our plans going in the next few months."

Iyer and Gaikwad's performance

Talking about the form of Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dravid said: "Yeah, we are not going to make knee-jerk reactions on people, I do not like judging people after one series or one game. Every one of the guys who got an opportunity here truly deserved the opportunity. They have earned it, in this format of the game, you are going to have good and bad games. Shreyas Iyer showed a lot of intent on a couple of tricky wickets and played positively for us. Ruturaj showed in one innings, the quality and skill he has got. In 20-20, you can have odd games, where it goes up and down a little bit, your form and performance. We are not very disappointed with anyone, as a group, we were looking to play a certain brand of cricket."