‘Good performances on tours like these make selectors think about you’: Rahul Dravid says SL tour crucial for youngsters

Shikhar Dhawan-led Team India is set to travel to Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is. Former captain Rahul Dravid will be travelling with the team as the head coach. India regular captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri are in England for the upcoming Test series, and several first-team players will be missing the tour to Sri Lanka.

In their absence, several youngsters have been included in the squad for the Sri Lanka tour. Speaking at a virtual media interaction, Dravid was asked if performance in the series may open doors for the youngsters to be included in the squad for the T20 World Cup later this year.

“It [The Sri Lanka tour] is crucial for youngsters like Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad. They would be extremely keen to do well and set a marker for the selectors. Whether they get picked for the World Cup or not, that’s a call that the selectors and the Indian team management would take based on their plans and strategies," Dravid told reporters at the media interaction, according to Sportstar.

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"That said, it’s not like if you don’t have a good tour of Sri Lanka, you are never going to make it. Conversely, just because you do well against Sri Lanka doesn’t mean you will make it automatically. Certainly, good performances on tours like these against international oppositions make the selectors think about you," he added.

Dravid further said that the primary goal for the team is to win the series in Sri Lanka.

"So like you said, rightly there are a lot of people in the squad who are pushing for places or looking to cement their places in the sort of T20 World Cup. But the key goal for everyone in the squad and in the team is to try and win the series, we have had discussions around it," Dravid was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

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'That is the primary objective. We are going out there to win the series, hopefully, people get the opportunity to put in good performances in the course of us trying to win the series, and knock the doors of the selectors," he signed off.