Rahul Dravid pleased with the development of India A players

Bengaluru, August 7: Rahul Dravid has been in charge of the India A side for the last three years and during this period it has developed into a splendid supply line for the senior team, besides winning tournaments and series across the globe.

The latest on that list is India A's thumping innings and 30 runs win over South Africa A at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Tuesday (August 7). It has left Dravid a satisfied man but more so because of the development of players under his tutelage. Dravid touched on various aspects of India A establishment after the match.

On the development of Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw: I think they have shown over the last year or so with their performances that they are playing very good cricket. It's nice to see them developing and growing as players. Whether there is an opportunity or not is not for me to decide. But they have played really well. Mayank Agarwal was quite exceptional in this game and Prithvi has shown continuous improvement in every level he has played.

On Yuzvendra Chahal playing red ball cricket after nearly one and half years: Chahal has had a lot of success in white ball cricket. Even for us, I have been seeing for two and half years, when he first came to South Africa, he wasn't considered a red ball player. But we wanted to give him opportunity to showcase how he does in red ball cricket. It's about what he can do in red ball cricket and that's really what A team is about. We are here to supplement and do what is best to make the Indian team stronger. Chahal, they were very keen to know how he performs in red ball cricket.

India A Won by an innings and 30 Run(s) @paytm IndAvSaA #IndiaASeries Scorecard:https://t.co/lqPXmgZ6UN

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) August 7, 2018

On the high success rate of Under-19 and India A: Winning and losing is just a part at this level. Our job is to give opportunities to young talents. We want to know the requirements of the national team and we think of providing that. We have players coming from the national team and we have to give them opportunities. Sometimes we are looking to rotate the squad so that everyone gets an opportunity to play. So it's exciting that we have organised a quadrangular series and there will be 30 new players on show. More of our guys get a chance to showcase their talent against really good players from South Africa and Australia.

On the development of pacer Mohammed Siraj: The last three four-day games, in England and here he has been terrific. To get 26 wickets in the last three games is terrific. It's his maturity that stands out. He is someone who has played very less first-class matches. He hasn't been really part of the system as he hasn't played much junior cricket. So he is learning all the time. So even in white ball cricket I won't be too harsh him too quickly because he hasn't played that much, may be a little bit of IPL, he had one good season and then he was in and out. It's been great to give him the chance to perform. He has been bowling in much better areas and he has grown better physically.

On the scheduling of A team: Scheduling is very critical part of the A series. You are working on reciprocal basis with other teams. The BCCI has put in a very good plan in place and see how we can give a lot of our players exposure at a slightly higher level than the domestic cricket. It's a good bridge between domestic and international cricket. We try and schedule it in the best of ways and we want to give them as many matches as we can. So there is a lot of cricket. If they keep performing like Mayank, Prithvi, Siraj and Bharat,, who took 10 catches in this game and a really good 60, it opens up options for national selectors and that's our goal.