‘Could see his potential in NZ series. So we challenged him…’: Dravid hails progress of promising 27-year-old in T20Is – Hindustan Times

India head coach Rahul Dravid on Monday hailed the progress of promising 27-year-old Venkatesh Iyer on the T20I format, following his impressive all-round return in the three-match series against West Indies in Kolkata.

Having made his international debut in the New Zealand home series last November, Venkatesh had a quiet series before he lost his spot on the ODI format after just two appearances. But the youngster bounced back strong in the T20I series against West Indies at home to score 92 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 184 and also picked two crucial wickets in two innings in the series.

Hailing the progress of the all-rounder, Dravid admitted that he had seen his potential in the New Zealand series itself before throwing him a challenge of batting the middle order given that the top three is packed. The former India captain was mighty impressed with the manner in which he dealt with the challenge, showing some improved performances in the series.

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"This has a really good series for us. After he played the three T20s against New Zealand, you could sort of see his potential," Dravid said in the post-match press conference. "We kind of gave him the clarity on the kind of role we have for him. I know he plays a slightly different role for his IPL franchise, but we were very clear with him as to what kind of role we see him filling in seeing our situation because in our top three there isn't a spot. Guys are established and we have guys who have performed in the top three. So we challenged him and gave him the role to be able to bat in that position. Every time he has come back from a break, he has improved, gotten better and his performances are better and that's pleasing, that's what you want to see.

While Hardik Pandya continues to recover from his back issues, for which he has been out of selection since November, Venkatesh has the opportunity to make the most of the former's absence. Although, his bowling may not be of the level of Hardik, but Venkatesh is proving his worth with his power-hitting skills that has added to the strength of India's middle-order which also has the presence of Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant.

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'Could see his potential in NZ series. So we challenged him...': Dravid hails progress of promising 27-year-old in T20Is - Hindustan Times