'I think there are some real good positives' - Head coach Rahul Dravid puts forward 3 takeaways from disappointing T20I series against West Indies

The recently concluded five-match T20I series against West Indies marked a fresh start in Team India's new set-up in the shorter format. The Men in Blue announced a squad of young players led by Hardik Pandya as part of preparing a strong XI for the T20 World Cup next year. However, the outcome of India's first Test did not go as planned as India lost a bilateral series against the West Indies for the first time in 17 years.

After losing the first two T20Is, India staged an impressive comeback in the next two matches. But they failed to continue their form in the series decider in Florida and as a result, the hosts won by eight wickets to register a historic series win. As India and captain Hardik face a flood of criticism from fans and former cricketers, head coach Rahul Dravid has put forward three positive signs from the Caribbean tour.

The former India cricketer started by praising Yashasvi Jaiswal, who smashed a century on his international debut in the Test format. The 21-year-old scored 266 runs in three innings and was also impressive in the fourth T20I where he scored 84 not out in India's massive win. Dravid then took time to laud young sensation Tilak Varma, who played in all five T20Is and scored 173 runs, including a half-century.

"I thought all the three guys who made debuts for us in this series stood up. Yashasvi Jaiswal in the fourth game, I thought he played a very good innings. He's shown us what he can do in the IPL and it was nice to see him replicate that in international cricket," he said.

"Tilak Varma, I thought, was really good, to come in in the middle order. He came in sometimes in very difficult situations. He plays with a lot of intent, plays very positively, looks to move the game along, fielded brilliantly throughout the series, showed us he can bowl one or two overs as well. So really positive signs from Tilak and to have that left-hander in the middle order does make a huge difference against some of the attacks that we've been playing against," added the legendary batter.

I thought he acquitted himself really well: Dravid on Mukesh Kumar

The third positive sign in Dravid's eyes is pacer Mukesh Kumar, who has made his debut in all formats of the game. "Mukesh as well. He debuted in all the formats in this series and I thought he acquitted himself really well. His ability to bowl at the death, sometimes he was called upon to bowl against some really big, powerful, hard-hitters and he acquitted himself well for someone who was just playing his fourth or fifth game," he concluded.