Rahul Dravid will hope to start his coaching assignment with Team India on an impressive note as the Men In Blue gear up for a three-match T20I series against New Zealand, following their T20 World Cup debacle in UAE. The series opener will be played in Jaipur on Wednesday.
With former T20I skipper Virat Kohli and most of the senior players rested, it will be interesting to see how Dravid manages a bunch of young cricketers as they take on a confident New Zealand unit who are coming off a successful T20 World Cup campaign in Dubai, where the Black Caps finished as the runners-up.
Ahead of the clash, Dravid's former teammate and star batter Robin Uthappa said that despite the high expectations from the former India captain one should allow him to settle. The batter made the remarks while speaking on ESPNcricinfo.
"Obviously when Rahul Dravid becomes a coach, expectations tend to rise up automatically. But I think as supporters of the Indian team we should give him time to settle in and make his space in the team. We can't expect results from the get-go," said the right-handed batter, who now plays for Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings.
{{/usCountry}}"Obviously when Rahul Dravid becomes a coach, expectations tend to rise up automatically. But I think as supporters of the Indian team we should give him time to settle in and make his space in the team. We can't expect results from the get-go," said the right-handed batter, who now plays for Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings.
{{/usCountry}}Uthappa insisted that the team looks strong at the moment but one should focus on the big tournaments and allow Dravid ‘a year or a year and a half’ to build a strong bunch of players.
"Yes we have a great team and results will come our way, but when you're looking at big tournaments, if he gets one or one and a half year, he will have his time to build a team," he added.
This is not the first time Dravid has taken up coaching duties for Team India. Earlier this year, when Virat Kohli and co were engaged with their duties in the red-ball format in England, interim coach Dravid had then toured Sri Lanka with a second string Indian unit for a limited-over series.
India had then won the ODIs 2-1 and had fall short in the T20Is by the same margin.