'I will explain ', R Ashwin replies to Ravi Shastri's DIG at head coach Rahul Dravid for skipping IND vs NZ T20Is

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has taken a break after T20 World Cup 2022 and his leave after heartbreaking loss against England has not gone down well with former coach Ravi Shastri. The Ex-coach said that he does not believe in breaks, adding that the support staff anyway gets a three-month break during IPL. He further said that the head coach should spend as much time with the team as possible. His comments have received mix reactions. Some say that Shastri is right about breaks for support staff while others have backed Dravid. 

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R Ashwin, who was a part of the team that played the T20 World Cup, has backed Dravid, saying that the support staff has worked day in and day out on the prep and that a much-needed break was the need of the hour for them. There was a criticism that inspite of NCA director VVS Laxman taking charge, it should have been Vikram Rathour who should have filled in for Dravid. 

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"I will explain why Laxman has gone there with a completely different team because even that could be interpreted differently. Rahul Dravid and his team put in extensive hard work ahead of the T20 World Cup, right from planning, since I saw this from close quarters, I'm saying this. They had specific in-depth plans for each venue and each opposition. So they would have been under not only mental but also physical burnout and everyone needed a break. As soon as the New Zealand series ends, we have the Bangladesh tour. That's why we have a different coaching staff led by Laxman for this tour," said Ashwin.

Team India, led by Hardik Pandya, is in New Zealand to play the T20I series followed by ODI series. The first T20I in Wellington, however, was washed out. The second T20 will be played n November 20 (Sunday).