Mumbai: Ahead of India's first T20I against South Africa on Thursday, Indian team head coach Rahul Dravid said that the team is not paying any attention to records and numbers.
Team India will be looking forward to becoming the first side to win 13 T20Is in a row as they take on the Proteas in the first match of the five-match home series at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. "We have not really thought of or paid attention to the records. It is nice to win games. But for me, a lot of this is about not worrying about creating records or numbers, we want to win every game we play. We want to prepare and practice well and get to the field with our tactics right and try executing them. If it happens, it is great," said the head coach during a press conference. "We are up against a strong South African side and that is what makes it exciting for me. It is gonna give us a good test. It will give a lot of our youngsters that did not get a chance earlier, a chance to test themselves against a really good side. That is the exciting part for us. If we win, we win. But if we do not, we learn, move to the next game and continue," he added.
Dravid said that Dinesh Karthik has been able to show skills at the backend of the innings during the last 2-3 years.
"He has been able to be a point of difference for teams he has played. He has been picked to bat in that kind of position and to see whether he can replicate those performances for India as well," he added.
Karthik excelled as a finisher for RCB, scoring 330 runs in 16 games at an average of 55.00. He scored one half-century for his side in the recently-concluded IPL 2022.
Dravid admitted that it is good to have spinner Kuldeep Yadav back in the side after great performances in the recently concluded IPL, where he took 21 wickets for Delhi Capitals. He is a wicket-taker and can turn games around with wickets in middle overs. There are a lot of positives about having him in the mix. We also have players like Harshal (Harshal Patel) and Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar), who have experience. Yuzi has shown a lot of class over the last six months, in the IPL as well. Bishnoi has done really well. Axar is an an all-rounder. There are a lot of options for us," he added.—ANI