Virat Kohli will join the team for the second Test against New Zealand in Mumbai.
Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan talked about the partnership between new head coach Rahul Dravid and Test skipper Virat Kohli.
Rahul Dravid’s stint as an Indian head coach started with a dominating T20I series win over New Zealand. The Rohit Sharma-led side whitewashed the Black Caps 3-0, which saw every player chipping in at some point to help hosts seal the victory.
The focus now shifts towards the Test series between the two teams, which start with 1st Test from 25th November in Kanpur followed by the second Test in Mumbai from 3rd December.
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The Test series will mark Rahul Dravid’s first series as full-time head coach of the Indian team in the longest format and the former head coach would like to start on high.
While Ajinkya Rahane will lead the Team in the first match, while Virat Kohli will join the squad for the second Test and will captain the side also. Many fans are excited about the partnership between Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli and there are a lot of talks about how the duo will go about their work.
While talking about the same, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan said that Rahul Dravid will come will just come and not change the system much.
He added that the Indian head coach is very technical and tactical and will not disrupt things and rather will boost the confidence of the players like he used to do when he was the captain.
"This will be a new partnership between Rahul Dravid as well as Virat Kohli, the captain. Especially in the longer format, I don't see any problem because Rahul Dravid is the kind of guy who likes to come into the system, he doesn't change the system much.
"Now obviously, he's a very technical - tactical guy but he will not disrupt, he never used to disrupt even when he was captain, he always used to help boost the confidence of the player,” Irfan Pathan said on Star Sports.
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Pathan said that there will be great understanding and communication in Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli’s partnership and young players will be given as much importance as senior players.
"One thing is for sure, there will be a great understanding and communication in this partnership, along with this youth players will be given as much importance as a senior player gets in the team," he said.
Irfan Pathan, who played under Dravid's captaincy, said that the head Coach’s mindset will only help the young players getting in the team to adapt well too.
"I'm not saying that this did not happen before but I have played under Rahul Dravid and this was very noticeable, if there was any young player in the team it was not hard to help them get into the team and it was solely due to Rahul Dravid's mentality," he concluded.
(Star Sports inputs)