Too early to comment on Rahul Dravid’s coaching style: R Ashwin

Dravid replaced Ravi Shastri in the Indian set-up, beginning his stint with the ongoing India-New Zealand T20I series

Ravichandran Ashwin said it’s too early to comment on Rahul Dravid’s coaching style, but the premier India spinner is confident that happiness will be back in the dressing room under the stalwart’s guidance.

Dravid replaced Ravi Shastri in the Indian set-up, beginning his stint with the ongoing India-New Zealand T20I series.

Ashwin is back in the Indian limited overs squad after spending four years on the sidelines. Since mid-2017 the spinner did not get to play a single white-ball game and even warmed the benches in the team’s recent England Test tour.

Strong comeback

Ashwin, 35, made a comeback at the recently-concluded T20 World Cup (six wickets in three matches) when he played against Afghanistan and is now part of the team that is clashing with New Zealand, taking two wickets in the series opener. “It’s too early for me to comment on Dravid’s coaching style, but he’s put the hard yards in through the U-19 level,” Ashwin told the official broadcaster after India’s five-wicket win on Wednesday.

“He won’t leave much to chance, and he’ll be all about preparation and process, so that we can bring the happiness back into the Indian dressing room,” he added.

New leadership group

India has a new leadership in place with Dravid taking over from Shastri and Rohit Sharma replacing Virat Kohli as captain in T20Is.

Talking about the first T20I, Ashwin said he realised that taking the pace off the ball was working wonders. “The slower you bowled, there was more purchase you got on this pitch. If you hit the seam and tossed it up, it did do things like [Mitchell] Santner showed in the second innings,” he said.

“It’s tricky in T20s, you can’t miss your lengths and you don’t know when to toss it up, but here it did help to give it some air.”

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