India vs South Africa 3rd T20I: We have to improve, execute plans better in death overs, says Rahul Dravid

Even as he acknowledged that his team needed to "improve, get better" and "execute our plans better" in the death overs going into the T20 World Cup in Australia, India head coach Rahul Dravid defended his bowlers' poor show in the final overs, saying that "it's not been easy bowling in the death on very flat wickets" during the home T20I series against Australia and South Africa. Defending his under-fire bowlers, particularly seamers, Dravid pointed out that it hadn't been easy for the rival team's bowlers either to stop runs on batting beauties. "Obviously, you keep trying to get better in all the departments (of the game). Certainly bowling in the death…you know to be fair it's been very flat wickets, it's not been easy bowling at the death, but only for our team, but the other team (too). Australia and South Africa are sides which have a lot of experience in their bowling attacks, and they've struggled in the death as well. So it's not only us," Dravid said in the post-match presser on Tuesday.

"But yes, I don't think we've to look at them, we've to look at ourselves. We've to look at how we can improve and how we can get better. That's an area where we'd certainly like to improve and get better. Because we know that as you play these big tournaments, margins can be really small, and every run, boundary can matter. If we can cut them at any stage in the game, that's certainly going to make a difference," Dravid said. Later, while answering a question on the poor form of medium-pacer Harshal Patel, Dravid stressed on the need for his bowlers to execute the team's plans better. "Sure, he's not the only one. Overall, in the death (overs), all told, we need to get better, improve, execute better. Sometimes, it's not