Florida, (UNI) Although India lost the T20I series 2-3 against the West Indies, performances of a few debut players like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma has left India Coach Rahul Dravid impressed.
He also had a word of praise for debutant Mukesh Kumar’s abilities as he acquitted himself very well by bowling at hard-hitting West Indian batsmen.
“I thought all the three guys who made debuts for us in this series, stood up whether it was Yashasvi Jaiswal in the fourth game, I thought he played a really good innings at the top of the order. He’s shown us what he can do in the IPL and it was nice for him to replicate that in an international scene.
“Tilak Varma, I thought, was really good, to come in the middle order. He came in sometimes in very difficult situations. But every time, he played with a lot of intent, played very positively, looked to move the game along, fielded brilliantly throughout the series, showed us he can bowl one or two overs as well.
“So really positive signs from Tilak and to have that kind of left-hander in the middle order does make a huge difference against some of the attacks that we’ve been playing against,” he told BCCItv in post-match conference.
On Mukesh, Dravid said: “Mukesh is someone who debuted in all the formats in this series and I thought he acquitted himself really well. His ability to bowl at the death, sometimes he was called upon to bowl against some really difficult overs against some really big powerful hard hitting batsmen and he acquitted himself well for someone who was just playing his fourth or fifth game.
“So I think there’s some real good positives in the guys who made their debuts for us and hopefully they take confidence from the series and keep learning as they go forward. You know they will be going to Ireland and give a few more opportunities in the T20 format, and more opportunities they get to play I am sure they will get better and better they will get,” he said.
