MUMBAI, Nov 11: India’s newly-appointed Test captain Anil Kumble backed experienced batsman Rahul Dravid to make a quick return to the one-day side.

Dravid, 34, was dropped for the first four games of the present five-match one-day series against Pakistan after averaging less than 10 in his last 10 one-day matches.

Former captain Dravid, one of seven batsmen in the world to score over 10,000 one-day runs, however, displayed his old touch with a spanking double hundred in a recent domestic game.

“He’s too good a player to be left out,” Kumble told NDTV news channel on Sunday.

“I’m sure it’s only a temporary phase. He is an integral part of the team and he has been (that) for the last 12 years,” Kumble added.

India won the third one-dayer by 46 runs on Sunday to go 2-1 up.

Dravid is, however, expected to be an automatic choice for the three-Test series against Pakistan beginning later this month.

He gave up the captaincy in September after the England tour to focus on his batting but looked out of sorts in the one-day series against Australia, scoring 51 in five completed innings.

—Reuters