After the T20I squad announced for the T20I series against Sri Lanka, the news started doing the rounds that the T20I career of the senior players is over. After the defeat against Sri Lanka, the Indian team’s Rahul Dravid held a press conference.
During this, he said without naming that India is focusing on building a youth team for the 2024 T20I World Cup. Although, he took the names of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, but insisted that there could be a full youth team for T20I in 2024.
In fact, senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have been rested for the T20s. During the press conference, coach Rahul Dravid said that the senior players are focusing on the 50-over World Cup, which will be played in India this year.
It may be noted that only Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Akshar Patel and Arshdeep Singh are among the players featured in the T20I series against Sri Lanka, who played in the World Cup semi-finals. All other young players have been given a chance.
Defended young players –
Responding to questions about the poor performance in the match, Dravid said, “It is a great experience to play a young team against a quality Sri Lankan team. The good thing is that the ODI World and World Test Championships are getting a lot of attention. That’s why we have been given a chance to try these guys in T20I.”
Defending the bowlers said – we need to be patient
When asked about India’s performance, Dravid said that the team management, fans and everyone else will have to be patient with this young team as they have a lot to learn and do.
Dravid defended the bowlers saying, “No one wants to bowl a wide or a no-ball, in this format it can hurt you. We have to be patient with these young players. A lot of new players are playing, they are very skilful, they are learning. Learning on the job in international cricket is tough, so we need to be patient.”
Let us tell you that India lost by 16 runs while chasing 207 runs on Thursday. India had lost four wickets inside the first powerplay. Suryakumar Yadav (51 off 36 balls) and Akshar Patel (65 off 30 balls) tried to get India back in the match, but in the end India lost the match.