Dravid feels winning home series after IPL has become tougher

India winning the home Test series is so routine that the defeat in the first match in Hyderabad was a crisis of sorts. It was as though India had met their match in England's Bazball. After three engrossing Tests, during which India sealed the series, Rohit Sharma and company defeated England here by an innings to reestablish their authority.

Head coach Rahul Dravid felt winning Test series in the post-IPL era has become that much tougher but admired the teams over the years for maintaining the proud record.

"Obviously defeats in India have been rare and I'd like to acknowledge and credit the players for that," said head coach Rahul Dravid after the final Test here on Saturday. "It's not easy. I think sometimes we just take it for granted. I think what is especially heartening is over the last 10 years or a decade or so, India have had this dominance and have been able to string together successful series in spite of the fact that the exposure that the foreign players get in this country, compared to what they would get in the 90s or the 80s or even early 2000s, before the IPL is not comparable."

"A lot of foreign players who come here spend a lot of time in this country. I know it is a different format but it is about familiarity, it is about getting used to these conditions, it's about knowing the country. We don't get those opportunities, our young players don't spend two months in Australia before they go there. A lot of the English players or Australian players spend a lot of time here in these conditions, they know people. So that's made it a lot easier. But in spite of that, the fact that we've been able to maintain that record and the standard is a real tribute to the players and the way they've performed and the skills that they're continuing to show."

India had five debutants in this series and almost all of them stood out with meaty contributions, and Dravid credited the selectors for spotting the right talents.

"It was really good to see them step up," he began. "And all of them, in their own way, put in performances, played a part for this team, which was really heartening to see. I would like to give credit to (chief of selectors) Ajit (Agarkar) and his team as well. As a coach and sometimes as a captain, we don't get to see domestic cricket. We have to rely on Ajit and his team to tell us who are the guys in domestic cricket who can step up and fill in the gaps when required. 

"And also the importance of A tours. All of these guys were just recently playing an A tour against England. That really helped us also to see which are the guys performing and doing well currently. All those guys just came in and were able to perform in this series as well. That's a very important part. I was involved in that process at the NCA some years ago, and I know how critical a piece is in our system. Because we have got a lot of domestic cricket."

Dravid was glowing in his praise for Kuldeep Yadav who finished the series with a player of the match award in the final Test. The left-arm wrist spinner ended with 19 wickets in four Tests.

"It's been tough on Kuldeep to be honest," he noted. "He's bowling at a time when there are legends of the game who are playing as spinners. Both Ashwin and Jadeja are absolute legends of the game. Even Axar is a fantastic performer. When he has played for us, his record is absolutely exceptional apart from the fact that he bats really well. It's not been easy for Kuldeep. He hasn't played a lot of red-ball cricket since making his debut here in 2017. Given the context, for him to come into this series and perform the way he has, it's been absolutely superb. And he's literally forced us (to play him) by the sheer quality of his bowling."