Rahul Dravid: We did not play smart cricket in critical situations

Rishabh Pant after being dismissed during the third ODI against South Africa at Newlands on Sunday. Pic/Getty Images

India's head coach Rahul Dravid has attributed Team India's 0-3 ODI series whitewash against South Africa to their failure in playing "smart cricket."

India lost the first ODI on January 19 by 31 runs and followed it up two days later with a seven-wicket loss in the second one-dayer. On Sunday, the visitors lost the third ODI by four runs.

Dravid, a former India captain, however felt that the result could be an eye-opener ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Rahul Dravid. Pic/PTI

"This ODI series is a good eye-opener for us. This team has not played many ODIs after the 2019 World Cup. Luckily, we have a fair bit of time to go before the 2023 World Cup [to be held in India]. There is going to be a lot of cricket in the white-ball format till 2023. This is a good opportunity for us to reflect, learn and keep getting better. We will get better and improve, there is no doubt about that," Dravid said during the post-match virtual press conference on Sunday.

In the third ODI at Newlands in Cape Town, the Proteas were bowled out for 287 in 49.5 overs, following which India were dismissed for 283 in 49.2 overs. Virat Kohli (65), Shikhar Dhawan (61) and bowling all-rounder Deepak Chahar (34-ball 54, 5x4, 2x6) were impressive.

When Kohli departed with the score reading 156-4 in 31.4 overs, India were very much in control, but thereafter, Suryakumar Yadav (32-ball 39) and Shreyas Iyer (34-ball 26), failed to build on their good starts. Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who came in at No.4 and got a first-ball duck while attempting to play a rash shot, was also a disappointment.

Where India lost it

Dravid admitted that the team lost the plot somewhere in the middle of the chase: "If I look at the 30-over mark in both the games [second and third ODIs], we should have chased down the target, but we did not because we played some poor shots and did not play smart cricket in critical situations," said Dravid, as he went on to praise Chahar, who also took two wickets on his first game of the tour.

"I have seen him [Chahar] at India ‘A' so I know what he can do with the bat and that certainly gives us a lot more options. It is nice to have people like him [Chahar] and Shardul [Thakur], who we have seen in the last couple of games, contribute with the bat as well. More and more players like these certainly make a big difference."

Finally, Dravid also had some positive words for stand-in captain KL Rahul, who led the team in four-out-of-four defeats (he led in the second Test after Kohli was out with a back spasm and then continued to lead in the three ODIs as Rohit Sharma did not travel to SA due a hamstring injury).

‘Captain Rahul will improve'

"It's not easy to end up on the wrong side of the result. He [Rahul] is just starting out his journey as captain. A large part of captaincy is also the execution of the skills of your players. We were a bit short on the one-day side of things, but I thought he did a very decent job.

"He will improve and get better as the captain," Dravid concluded.