Virat Kohli's plan to spend quality time in the middle before the Sri Lanka tour was cut short by Australia 'A', with the Test skipper getting out early in both innings. India 'A' coach Rahul Dravid, though, says there is no cause for worry. "Virat had not played for over a month before coming here. I think he has spent a good amount of time in the middle. Virat is very keen to perform and is working hard at the nets," Dravid said.
"He can only work with the team he has got and focus on getting the best out of them. Sometimes things will not go well and sometimes it will. It was great for him to come in and play a game here. The time he spent here will do him a world of good. He is keen, excited and looking forward towards doing well," Dravid added.
The former India captain also said that Virat should not look to curb his aggressive intent as captain. "You need to be who you are. The beauty of this game is that it allows different people to succeed. Most people who succeed over a period of time are aggressive. They show it differently. Some are more expressive and some are not. Virat is expressive by nature and he should not curb this approach," said Dravid.
On Cheteshwar Pujara's declining form, Dravid said, "I don't think there are any major issues with his batting. He needs a bit of confidence. Batting for some time in the middle will help him. Hopefully, he will get a chance to score runs in the practice match before the Test series against Sri Lanka and that will help him to get going," said Dravid.
India A were outplayed by Australians in familiar conditions but Dravid said national team's bench strength was not a worry. "I wouldn't say it is a worry. We will have ups and downs but there is some exciting talent too. You can't judge them based on every single game. We will lose the odd game. Winning and losing an 'A' series is not the end of the world. You are actually preparing them for the international level. That is the goal.
"I have been quite happy to see some spin talent. Ojha (Pragyan) came back and bowled well. Shreyas Gopal has potential. Jayant Yadav is an exciting talent. There is Axar (Patel) and Karn (Sharma). So there is a group that is coming through. So it is not as it bleak as it seems. Same with batting. They can learn from this game and play better against South Africa," said Dravid referring to the series against South Africa A."
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