Unrealistic to give opportunity to all youngsters in Sri Lanka: Dravid

Among the players who are fighting for a place in the T20 squad for this year's World Cup are the capped trio of Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson

Mumbai: India head coach for the tour of Sri Lanka, Rahul Dravid, on Sunday said it is unrealistic to expect that all the youngsters picked for the limited-overs assignment will get a game as they try to make an impression ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup.

The series marks the coaching return of Dravid, who is based in Bengaluru as the chief of the National Cricket Academy. The second string squad has six uncapped players. “…I think it’s probably going to be unrealistic to expect us in a short tour like this with three games, or three one-dayers to give everyone an opportunity…and the selectors will be there as well,” Dravid declared in the pre-departure press conference.

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Among the players who are fighting for a place in the T20 squad for this year’s World Cup are the capped trio of Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson. The three T20s in Sri Lanka hold more importance than the ODIs as it will be the last set of international games India play before the marquee event. “There are a lot of people in this squad who are pushing for places or looking to cement their places in the World Cup coming up, but I think the key goal of everyone in the squad and in the team…is to try and win the series,” the former India captain said.

“These are the only three games before the World Cup. I am sure that you know the selectors and management would have a pretty fair idea by now as to what is the kind of squad that they are looking for.”