Dravid demands improvement

Rahul Dravid © Getty Images

India captain Rahul Dravid is looking for an improved performance from his side during the one-day series against West Indies, which gets under way in Nagpur on Sunday.

India suffered a 2-1 Test series defeat to South Africa in December and Dravid is keen to lead the team back to form in limited-overs cricket.

Dravid said: “We need to get back into the one-day mode and start doing some of the things we did well early last season, when we had good success.

“Our form started off last season in Nagpur against Sri Lanka and now we are back here again. Hopefully this will be the start of some good things for us.

“This has been a good ground for me. We have had some success here. I know there is some added pressure playing at home but I’m looking forward to it.”

Dravid took plenty of encouragement from the narrow defeat in South Africa and is hopeful left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh can return from injury against West Indies.

He said: “We came back well when nobody gave us a chance. We played well throughout the Tests and it was unfortunate we couldn’t finish it off.

“We were competitive so that’s a good positive for us.

“We called Yuvraj here for the nets for two days. The idea is for him to play a bit. The signs are very good. It’s just a question of him trying out a few games.

“He did all the fielding exercises. He has done everything. It’s just a question of him doing more and more of this consistently so that he gets some confidence in himself.”

Following the best-of-four series against the Windies, India meet Sri Lanka in Poona on February 8 for the first game of another four-match ODI series ahead of the World Cup in March.