India’s simultaneous tours a short-term necessity, says Dravid

FIELDING two sets of teams to play different formats simultaneously will showcase India’s formidable bench strength but Rahul Dravid, who will coach the limited-overs side in Sri Lanka, would not call it the way forward yet.

While Virat Kohli and his men are in England for a five-Test series against Joe Root’s side in August-September, Shikhar Dhawan will lead a second-string India team in six limited-overs matches in Colombo next month.

“This is a unique situation in terms of quarantines and rules that have led to this situation,” Dravid, who has been put in charge for the Sri Lanka tour, said in the pre-departure media conference on Sunday.

“India probably had no option for this tour. I’m not sure if it is a long-term solution though, because there are many more stakeholders involved … " said the former India captain.

“Certainly, in the short term, this could ease pressure because it’s becoming difficult for the same set of players to go through all the restrictions in place to play all formats.

“So yes, in the short term a good idea but for the long term, it’ll need lot more discussions.”

The series is an opportunity for the fringe players to impress ahead of this year’s Twenty20 World Cup, but Dravid assured failure would not mean end of the world for them.

“Whether they get selected for the T20 World Cup or not, that’s a call the selectors will take,” said the 48-year-old.

“But by no means is it a life and death kind of a situation.

“It doesn’t mean if you don’t have a good tour, you won’t make it, or if you have a great tour, you’ll be an automatic pick. There’s a lot that goes into it.”

Beginning on July 13, India will play three one-day internationals followed by an equal number of Twenty20 Internationals.