India vs Sri Lanka: Head coach Rahul Dravid calls for patience with young players learning on the job

Pune, January 6: Team India head coach Rahul Dravid called for patience with young players following the defeat to Sri Lanka in the second T20I at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Thursday (January 5).

India suffered a 16 runs loss as visiting captain Dasun Shanaka played a match-winning role with bat and ball to level the three-match series 1-1.

Shanaka scored an unbeaten 56 off 22 balls and Kusal Mendis scored 52 off 31 balls, but the wides and no-balls bowled by the Indian bowlers also contributed to Sri Lanka's total of 206/6. Hence, the hosts bowling came under the microscope.

Arshdeep Singh bowled three no-balls on the trot in his first over, before bowling two more in the death-over. He finished with 0/37 from the two overs, as Sri Lanka capitalised on the extra opportunities.

Head coach Dravid, however, was quick to defend Arshdeep and the young bowling group for the inconsistency, explaining that experience will yield results.

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"Nobody wants to bowl wides and no-balls in any format of the game, but especially in the T20 format of the game.The young kids will have games like this at times, and I think we all need to be patient with them, (but) we need to be understanding that games like this can't happen," Dravid said at the post-match press conference.

"I think as they're learning, it's tough. It's not easy learning in international cricket. You have to learn on the job. I think we're going to have to have a little bit of patience with these guys."

In response to Lanka's 206, India struggled with the bat early at 34/4, but Suryakumar Yadav (51 from 36 balls) and Axar Patel (65 from 31 balls) played fighting knocks that ultimately went in vain as the hosts were restricted to 190/8.

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With the ODI World Cup and WTC final set to take place later this year, Dravid admitted that those two formats are higher in priority in 2023, but want to give youngsters chances to shore up the country's collective depth in T20 cricket.

"The good thing is that this year, a lot of the focus is going to be obviously on the 50-over World Cup and the World Test Championship. The T20 games that we have, it probably gives us an opportunity to try out a lot of the younger guys and hopefully give them opportunities and to just back and support them," Dravid added.

"Of course they are improving. We keep working hard and we keep trying to help them support them technically, you know, with whatever we can, in terms of support and also just creating the right environment for them to be able to get the best out of their skills."

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India were forced into one change from the first T20I with injured Sanju Samson, who was ruled out of the remainder of the series, making way for debutant Rahul Tripathi, while Arshdeep replaced Harshal Patel in a like-for-like change.

But, Dravid confirmed there will be no wholesale changes for the series decider with a call on the playing XI likely to depend on the kind of surface in Rajkot.

"I haven't thought about the third match. Once we go there we'll have a look at the wicket (we will assess) but no, I don't expect there to be too much of experimenting. The boys already who are playing are very young team. So we are not going to be chopping and changing people too much," Dravid said.

The two teams meet in the T20I series decider on Saturday (January 7) at the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium in Rajkot before the three-match ODI series, which is set to start on Tuesday (January 10).