Team India will tour Sri Lanka for a limited-overs tour in July. With the 26-member Test team in England for the World Test Championship final and a five-match Test series, the BCCI selection committee named a lot of youngsters for the 3-match ODI and T20I series. Young players like Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Varun Chakravarthy and Chetan Sakariya will get a chance to test their mettle in international cricket.
The team will be led by an experienced campaigner in Shikhar Dhawan while Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be his deputy. Another interesting factor would that former India skipper Rahul Dravid will reportedly be the coach of the side that tours Sri Lanka.
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Dravid has been credited with transforming the developmental culture of Indian cricket with him being the coach of the Under-19 team and India A teams.
Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and former teammate of Dravid, has talked about his role as the coach of the Indian side and what he brings to the table.
“These players have spent enough time with Rahul, so they know him. A coach is someone who should keep a healthy atmosphere in the team and the dressing room, and Rahul will do that. At this level, unless there are weaknesses, you don’t need to coach the players. They all know how to hit a cover drive or bowl an outswinger. When somebody is struggling, that’s when someone of his experience will play a role. Otherwise, the team knows what they are supposed to do,” Tendulkar said in an interview with Times of India.
{{/usCountry}}“These players have spent enough time with Rahul, so they know him. A coach is someone who should keep a healthy atmosphere in the team and the dressing room, and Rahul will do that. At this level, unless there are weaknesses, you don’t need to coach the players. They all know how to hit a cover drive or bowl an outswinger. When somebody is struggling, that’s when someone of his experience will play a role. Otherwise, the team knows what they are supposed to do,” Tendulkar said in an interview with Times of India.
{{/usCountry}}While speaking to news agency ANI, Tendulkar praised India pacer Jasprit Bumrah. He said that Bumrah has a slightly awkward action and that makes the job of the batsman that much more difficult.
“I was told that when a bowler is bowling well, stand at the non-striker's end (laughs). Jokes apart, Bumrah is a world-class bowler, his action is slightly awkward, I have played him in the nets and his action is awkward. He is quicker than you think. He hits the bat hard so one can say because his action is odd, you get less time to react,” Tendulkar was quoted as saying.