India head coach Rahul Dravid admitted on Sunday that his team "did not play smart cricket at crucial times" but supported the beleaguered KL Rahul to become better leaders in the coming days.

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid defended substitute skipper KL Rahul after the visitors faded 3-0 in the ODI series in South Africa. Dravid assured that the 29-year-old is just beginning his journey as captain and will learn with experience.

India head coach Rahul Dravid admitted on Sunday that his team "did not play smart cricket at crucial times" but supported the beleaguered KL Rahul to become better leaders in the coming days. India lost both the Test and ODI series in a tour of South Africa that proved disastrous, despite a brilliant start at the opening Test at Centurion, which the team comprehensively won.

"He did a good job. It's not easy to end up on the wrong side of the score," said Dravid when asked how he found Rahul as a leader after losing all four games he played on the tour had directed. “He's just starting out and I think he's done a very good job. He's getting better and better as a captain,” the head coach praised the young skipper.

Chasing 288, India lost to South Africa by four points in Sunday's ODI Finals in Cape Town. Deepak Chahar's 54 gave India hope of victory, but they eventually stumbled on 283 all-out.

When asked about his observations on Rahul's captaincy, Dravid said the batsman did a good job. At a virtual press conference following India's defeat, the 49-year-old said:

Rahul did not have a memorable tour of South Africa as captain. Prior to the ODIs, he led the team in the Johannesburg Test after Virat Kohli was declared unfit. India ended up losing the test by seven wickets.

The series is a "good eye-opener" according to Dravid, but there is still a long way to go before the 2023 ODI World Championship and India should do better in the near future.

“It's a good eye opener but we haven't played much ODI cricket. We last played against England in March (after the second team played against Lanka under Dravid's coaching). We're going to be playing a lot of white ball cricket before the World Cup next year." Dravid accepted that the Indian ODI team didn't have the balance required for the series, but agreed that one can try looking at the template.

"The guys who play at 6, 7 and 8 weren't available and when they come back the team will have a slightly different look," he said.

He agreed they were in play by the 30th over in both chases before some of the batters played poor shots.

"We haven't played smart cricket at crucial times," he added.