Team India coach Rahul Dravid underlined the need for batting depth as he addressed the T20I series loss to the West Indies with an eight-wicket defeat on Sunday at Lauderhill. The former Indian captain reckons that India must find a way to strengthen their batting unit without weakening their bowling.
India were marginal favourites heading into the series decider, given their convincing wins in the 3rd and 4th T20I after going 0-2 down. Unlike in the 4th T20I, India's openers failed to get them off to a good start. Suryakumar Yadav's 61 that lifted the Men in Blue to 169 in their stipulated 20 overs went in vain.
Speaking at a press conference after the game, Dravid reflected that the squad composition didn't allow them to have a settled line-up. Hence, he targets batting depth for India in the near future, given the high-scoring games.
"In terms of the squad that we had here, it didn't allow us the flexibility to have the combination to allow us to make the changes. Going forward, we will have to look at certain areas where we can get better. Finding depth in our batting is an area that we are trying to address and do as best as we possibly can. But that's certainly an area that we need to look at, how we can not weaken our bowling attack but have a certain depth in our batting that can go deeper. As the game is going on, the scores are becoming bigger and bigger."
We are disappointed: Rahul Dravid
Dravid also acknowledged the mistakes made by India in all five games and that coming back from 0-2 to win the series would have been special.
"Through all five games, we made some mistakes, in the first couple of games and even today. We didn't bat as well as we could have. But that can happen. It's a young team a developing team. There are going to be times when there would be a few ups and downs. Of course, we are disappointed. We would have wanted to get the right result. To come from 0-2 down would have been special."
Team India will next travel to Ireland to play three more T20Is.
