Sri Lanka Tour An Opportunity For Rahul Dravid To Create Future Champions For Indian Cricket- VVS Laxman

Former India batsman VVS Laxman is excited for India’s upcoming ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka where his former teammate and legendary batsman Rahul Dravid is appointed as the head coach of the second-string squad, which is captained by Shikhar Dhawan.

The ODI series commences on July 13; the next two ODI are slated for July 16, and 18. The T20Is will be played on July 21, 23, and 25. All matches will be played at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Colombo.

VVS Laxman says that this tour is a good opportunity for Dravid to prove his credentials further and stake a claim for a future head coach position of the senior side by accentuating some players’ careers.

“I don’t think there is any pressure. This is an opportunity for Rahul Dravid to prove himself as a coach. We all know his contribution towards Indian cricket, both as a player and as someone, who has been instrumental in creating the (Team India’s) bench strength – both as India A coach and as the Director of the National Cricket Academy.

“I think it is an opportunity for him to create the future champions for Indian cricket,” VVS Laxman said while speaking on Star Sports.

Players will enhance their future and growth by spending time with Rahul: VVS Laxman

With several first-choice players in England, the squad to tour Sri Lanka is fairly young on international experience and few players have received their maiden national call-ups. However, all the players in the squad have experience of the IPL.

VVS Laxman reckons all the youngsters in the side will learn a lot by sharing the dressing room and spending time with Dravid, even if some of them don’t get to play.

“It’s not necessary that everyone will get an opportunity to play in this tournament. But just spending time with Rahul and sharing his experiences – which he has already done with a lot of these players in the squad – will enhance their future and their growth as Indian cricketers,” the 46-year-old former batsman added.

India’s squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya

Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh

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