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‘He seems to be in good space’: Dravid hints at senior batter's inclusion for first Test against South Africa
The South Africa series will be Dravid's first away assignment as the head coach, having started his stint with a T20I series sweep against New Zealand.
India will be looking to clinch their first away Test series against South Africa. But having no warm-up games before the series opener makes things difficult for the touring side. Head coach Rahul Dravid, however, blamed the ongoing COVID-19 situation, adding that the team has trained well on the centre wicket.
"That's just the way things are at the moment. Kind of schedules we are working with, the Covid situation and bubbles... not always easy to get what you want. We have really worked hard with center-wicket preparation," Dravid told reporters on the eve of the first Test against South Africa.
Furthermore, under-fire Ajinkya Rahane has trained well for the South Africa challenge and seems to be in a good space, said Dravid on the senior batter whose place in the Playing XI has come under the scanner following a string of poor performances. The 33-year-old Rahane has managed to score just 411 runs in 12 Tests at an average of 19.57 this year.
A drop in form also led to Rahane losing the Test vice-captaincy to Rohit Sharma but Dravid has had "positive conversations" with the seasoned cricketer. Rahane averages over 40 in away conditions, with eight of his 12 Test tons coming outside the country, making a strong case to start in the Boxing Day Test versus South Africa, beginning December 26th in Centurion.
"I have had positive conversations with him, he has trained very well. It has been no different to conversations with others. He seems to be in good space," said Dravid.
The South Africa series will be Dravid's first away assignment as the head coach, having started his stint with a T20I series sweep against New Zealand at home. Dravid will be scratching his head over the team composition in South Africa, especially when he has an in-form but untested Shreyas Iyer in the artillery.
Earlier, Dravid had spoken about his experience after taking the charge of the senior men's side. "Just getting to know the boys and studying them upfront. The initial part of my coaching was observing how things are going and seeing what they are doing and yet not necessarily coming in and trying to change too much straight away.
"But just doing things in my own way and sort of getting the rest of the support staff, who are also new, getting them integrated, getting them to understand how the boys function in this environment," Dravid had said in his interview with bcci.tv.
