Rahul Dravid, head coach of the Indian cricket team, finished his first series without a loss. India first won the T20Is series 3-0
and then won the two-match Test series 1-0 on Monday. India handed New Zealand
a massive 372-run defeat at Wankhede Stadium in the second Test. Following
India’s win, Dravid said he is happy that his boys registered a comprehensive
win, unlike the Kanpur Test where New Zealand thwarted India’s chance at the
last moment, playing out a draw. This is India’s highest margin of victory in
terms of runs.

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“I think it was good to finish the
series as winners, came close in Kanpur, not able to get that last wicket there
and had to work really hard here. Boys were a bit disappointed at not finishing
it off in Kanpur. This result seems one-sided, but right through the series, we
were made to work hard. There have been phases where we were behind and had to
fight back, credit to the team,” Dravid said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

This was, meanwhile, India’s 14th
consecutive series win at home. While debutant Shreyas Iyer scored a century
and a half-century in the first Test, Mayank Agarwal, who struggled to hold on
to his spot at the top of the order, scored 150 in the first innings of the
second Test and a half-century in the second.

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“Great to see the boys stepping up and
taking their opportunities. Yes, we were missing a few senior players. Credit
to the guys who came in, Jayant had a difficult day yesterday, but learnt from
it today. Mayank, Shreyas, Siraj, who doesn’t get a lot of opportunities. Axar,
great to see his development with the bat in addition to what he can do with the
ball. It gives us a lot of options as well, helps us become a stronger
side,” said Dravid.

“It’s a good situation to be in, we’ve
had injuries in the lead-up, so we need to manage our players physically and
mentally, it’s going to be a large part of my challenge, challenge too for the
selectors and the leadership group. It’s a good [selection] headache to have,
see young boys perform well,” he added.

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“There’s a great desire to do well and
great depth in the squad and everyone’s pushing each other. I hope we have more
headaches to have, and I hope we have more of that later. At times we are going
to have to take difficult decisions but that is just the way it is. As long as
we have clear communication and we explain to the players why, don’t see it to
be a problem,” Dravid said.

Talking about the result of the match,
Dravid said that while the second Test may seem one-sided, India were tested
throughout the series and it was good to see the players fighting back whenever
they were down.

India never considered follow-on

New Zealand were all out for 62 in the
first innings. It is the lowest total for any team against India in Test
cricket, but India did not enforce the follow-on. Dravid said that the team
never considered enforcing the follow on.

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“We knew we had a lot of time, didn’t
think much of the follow-on, also a lot of young batters in the side, so wanted
to give them a chance to bat in conditions like these. We had a red soil wicket
here with turn and bounce and we knew we may be in such situations in the
future where we may have to force pace with the turning ball in the fourth of
fifth day. It was good to see the boys being tested in this manner.

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“Yesterday, Tim Southee and Kyle
Jamieson created problems with short pitched bowling. So it was a great
opportunity to have the guys get some more practice in the middle with
conditions that even we in India are not able to find often. Was great to help
in the development of our players. We knew we had a lot of time to get them out
and to be honest we still have a lot of time left,” he said.