Rahul Dravid 'Not Disappointed' With Young Batters After Poor Show Against Sri Lanka

SL v IND: Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has said that he was not disappointed by the performance of the young batters in the T20I series against Sri Lanka. He believed that the youngsters have to keep getting better in future.

In Thursday's decider at the R Premadasa Stadium, India managed to get just 81 in the first innings. Sri Lanka chased 82 with seven wickets in hand.

"I'm not disappointed. They are young batters; they have to keep improving and getting better. The Sri Lankan team's bowling attack is their international bowling attack. They're missing a few batters because of various reasons, but this is a top-quality attack. So, it's a great opportunity to reflect on these performances, reflect on these conditions, and maybe come up with some slightly better strategies," said Dravid in the post-match press conference.

Apart from skipper Shikhar Dhawan, India had just four batters for the last two T20Is in Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson and Nitish Rana. Among the four, Samson had the most experience with just seven T20Is.

"Let's be fair, you don't get these sorts of conditions very often in T20 cricket. But when you do, I think you need to have a response. You need to be able to play slightly better. They're all youngsters, we just need to have patience with them, give them more opportunities so that they can develop and grow," felt Dravid.

He added, "This was a really young team. All of us have had our struggles playing quality bowling, whether it's spin or pace. Early on in our careers, we've all had those struggles and we've all had to fight our way through that. None of us have been perfect when we started, whether it's my generation or any generation for that matter. It needs experience."

He also pointed out the conditions which are different for the youngsters than him in the playing years, saying that there is a lot to learn about playing on challenging pitches.

"Maybe the one thing that's slightly different is that when I was starting or was growing up, the pitches in domestic cricket tended to turn a little bit more and spun a bit more. To be honest, some of them were under-prepared. But I don't think the talent is missing, either in spin bowling or in the batting. We just need a little bit more experience in being able to figure out a few more different kinds of shots when we're challenged with these kinds of pitches. We just need to figure out a couple of more options. It was tough batting for them (Sri Lankans) as well."