da bet7： Rahul Dravid laughed off suggestions of a tiff with Greg Chappell inDurban, and emphasised that his team were trying their very best to getback on track ahead of the Cape Town ODI on Sunday.
Dileep Premachandran in Cape Town25-Nov-2006
A lot on his mind: ‘One of our goals is to get intothe last 10 overs with six wickets in hand’ © Getty Images
Rahul Dravid laughed off suggestions of a tiff with Greg Chappell inDurban, and emphasised that his team were trying their very best to getback on track ahead of the Cape Town ODI on Sunday. Reiterating that therewas little he could do about the strident criticism emanating from India,he reposed faith in the inexperienced players who have struggled to findany semblance of form in recent times.”You must understand that some of these guys are on their first tour hereand they have never experienced such conditions,” he said. “For them, it’sgoing to take some time. I see this tour as a great opportunity for theyoung players. If you can come away from this tour with high marks, it canset you up for your whole career.”I think they are keen and really want to do well. And those are theplayers who you want – to view this tour not as a threat but anopportunity to raise their own profile in the game. We [captain, coach andsenior players] have spoken to them a lot about it. But it is not easy.Experience does not always come from listening to people. You have to gothrough some of this yourself. We are all celebrating [Ricky] Pontingtoday but I remember Ponting coming to India [in 2001] and going through aphase where he had to struggle and learn how to play in the subcontinent.When you have players of the calibre of Ponting having to go through atough period, it is going to happen to a lot of people.”He admitted though that India’s failure to bat out 50 overs in severalrecent matches was a cause for concern. “One of our goals is to get intothe last 10 overs with six wickets in hand,” he said. “It’s something wehave to achieve. We have not batted as well as we would have liked. It’s aquestion of guys putting up runs on the board and spending time at thewicket, as simple as that.”The likely return of Virender Sehwag was discussed, but Dravid wouldn’tstate categorically whether he would play on Sunday, having missed theDurban game with soreness in his injured right hand. “Viru batted in thenets yesterday, and looked very good,” he said. “Like I said last time, weare hopeful that he will be fit for selection. Obviously, it’s importantto see how people are on the morning of the game. But he is improvingconstantly and a lot better than he was in the last game.”With Yuvraj Singh missing, and Sehwag injured, there had been renewedcalls for Dravid to move up to the No.3 slot, but he insisted thatMohammad Kaif would continue to occupy that position. “We have been tryingto give Kaif a consistent run in the one-day game,” he said. “Kaif is oneof our more experienced one-day players, and we have tried to give him aconsistent run in a position where he can play for a longer time. It suitshis style as well. He has been around for six years, so it’s just to seeif he can do well at No. 3. If it doesn’t work out, we can always go backto me and move him back to four or five.”The loss of Munaf Patel was a blow, but Dravid said that there was noquestion of taking a chance on his fitness during such a long tour. “We’remonitoring his progress at the moment and we’ll see after a couple ofpractice sessions in Port Elizabeth whether he’s fit for that game.”He was happy with the pitch prepared for the game, but added that the tossmight once again play a pivotal role in proceedings. “It will beinteresting to see how this wicket will play right through the day,” hesaid. “It might do a bit initially but as the day goes on it can be a goodwicket to bat on.” The dryness of the surface also meant that Anil Kumblecame into the picture. “It’s something we’ll look at and assess,” he said.”With Munaf’s injury, we’ll have to look at our bowling combination alittle bit. Depending on the conditions, we’ll look to play our bestcombination.”If that combination doesn’t work, it will give parliament more material todebate. It will allow the honourable members to be distracted from far more intractable issues.