Losing the four-dayer to England Lions was disappointing, but it was a ‘pretty successful’ tour on the whole for India A in England, said Rahul Dravid, the team coach.
India A had a decent tour of England. They lost just the one game – to England Lions – on their way to the title in the 50-over triangular series, which also had the Windies A in participation. Then, in the four-dayers, they drew the first and won the second game against the Windies, but then lost heavily by 253 runs against the Lions in their final game on tour.
“This has been a pretty successful tour of the UK both in the one-day and the four-day games that we played here. Winning the one-day series was nice and we got a couple of good results against West Indies A. It was a bit disappointing to lose our last game of the tour against England Lions,” Dravid told bcci.tv in an exclusive interview.
He added, “On tours like these, I feel the critical element is not so much the result, but it is really about the exposure and opportunities that you give to the players. Most of them are pushing for selection into the national side. It is an opportunity for them to learn how to play in these conditions against a tougher opposition and to see where they actually stand.”
The big positive, according to Dravid, was that the Indian players handled the pressure situations well in both the shorter and the longer games.
“We found ourselves under pressure both in the one-day and the four-day games and we found people to step up and deliver performances,” he said. “We had a lot of positives and some learning as well. We definitely could have done better in the batting department in the final game, but against a strong England Lions side, it was a great lesson for the batsmen on how to play in English conditions.
