Dravid praises all-round team performance, says they will be ready for SA backlash
Dileep Premachandran at Johannesburg18-Dec-2006
‘We are celebrating appropriately’ © Getty Images
Listen to Rahul Dravid’s press conferenceSoon after the presentation ceremony, Rahul Dravid walked towards theboundary rope and gestured towards the crowd. His wife made her way throughthe throng and handed over little Samit, who was then carried across tothe dressing room. Perhaps the celebrations were a little too much for atoddler to take and, by the time his father arrived for the press conferences,shirt soaked in spirits, Samit had gone back to a more child-friendlyenvironment.Sporting the biggest smile that he has in a long while, Dravid spokein animated tones about the celebrations following a historic 123-run victory.”Everyone’s going berserk and really enjoying it,” he said”. “It’s aspecial moment for this group and we are celebrating appropriately.”In the build-up to the game, Dravid had emphasised that it would bedangerous to write India off, though he admitted that the no-hopers taghadn’t been entirely undeserved. “I don’t blame the people for criticisingus,” he said. “South Africa were always going to be favourites headinginto this Test, but I knew there was a lot of quality in this team. Weshowed that in the last few days. We had players who stood up and werecounted.”Having been an integral part of epochal successes at Adelaide, Headingleyand Multan, Dravid was cautious when asked where this triumph rated in thegrand scheme of things. “This victory is great because this is the firsttime we have done it in South Africa in four visits over the past 14 years. Asa cricketer, your special moments are the ones that you share with theteam; the celebrations, the joy you get from winning and just being a partof the group that has stood by you for three-and-a-half days and put ineverything they’ve got to come out victorious.”The morale appeared to be too low for zero after the capitulation in theone-day series but, by the time the players returned to Johannesburg forthe Test, the spring was back in several steps. “It’s not that we haven’tdone this before,” said Dravid, when asked what had changed. “We lost theone-day series in West Indies but came back to win the Test series. Ithink it was nice to get away in Potchefstroom and hang in together.”The team was pretty hurt with the one-day defeat and we just got togetherand said whatever happens, we’ll try and put in a better performance. Wecame here with a bit of confidence having won the warm up-game. I’mglad the boys displayed a lot of fighting spirit and character.”Sreesanth’s brilliance with the ball broke the game open for India, butDravid preferred to focus on the team effort when asked to pick out thepivotal moments in the game. “The way Sourav Ganguly batted with the lowerorder to get us to 250,” he said. “His partnership with VRV Singh wascrucial too. Sreesanth and Zaheer coming out and bowling out theopposition for 84. Laxman did a great job with the tail in the secondinnings and his stand with Zaheer. Sreesanth picking up three wickets in thesecond innings, including the important wicket of Kallis. These were thecrucial moments that eventually helped us win.”The return of Ganguly added experience to the middle order, and both heand Laxman played hugely important knocks in the context of a low-scoringmatch. “It’s nice to have boys who have performed well in situations likethis before,” said Dravid. “To be honest, this Test team has been the samefor some time now, except for one or two players here and there. We hadthe same group in Pakistan, [against] England and West Indies.”When asked whether he’d discerned any change in Ganguly’s attitude andapproach to the game, Dravid said: “He’s really playing well. There’s nodoubt about that. His performances in Potchefstroom and in this Test havebeen really good. It’s great to see him batting well. He’s a proven andexperienced performer and when he bats well, it’s going to make a bigdifference to the side. I hope he keeps continuing because we’ll need goodperformances from people like him, Sachin, Laxman and myself to have theright results.”There was praise too for the coaching staff, who have copped considerablecriticism in recent months after indifferent results in the one-day game.”Unfortunately, we tend to focus a lot on individuals in success anddefeat,” said Dravid. “But at the end of the day, victories and defeatsare not about the captain or the coaches or one or two individuals. It’salways about the team. I’ve always believed that it’s the performancesthat you put in as a team that helps you win matches.” The team was pretty hurt with the one-day defeat and we just got togetherand said whatever happens, we’ll try and put in a better performance. Wecame here with a bit of confidence having won the warm up-game. I’mglad the boys displayed a lot of fighting spirit and character With India needing just five more wickets at the start of day four, theintensity was a little less than what it had been on the first three days.Dravid said, however, that there had been no hint of complacency. “Thesenior guys in the side were pretty keen to remind me and everyone else,saying: ‘Let’s get this done. They are a very good side, we need to beprofessional and get the job done’. It’s a good group of senior boys inthe team and the support they’ve given me is fantastic. A lot of things Idon’t even need to say, it just comes from the group and they handle a lotof things themselves.”In the past, great highs such as this have been followed by crashing lows,and Dravid said that his team needed to be wary of a South Africanbacklash. “South Africa will come back hard at us,” he said. “We have tosoak up a lot of pressure and respond adequately.”The pressure was certainly on when he walked out for the toss at theWanderers, and he asserted that the decision to bat had been his alone.”Whether we bat or bowl first, or who plays in the XI, is going to be mycall,” he said. “I do discuss things in our team meetings and with some ofmy senior players but at the end of the day, it always starts and endswith me. I felt that batting first was the way to go on this pitch.”Getting 249 on the board was quite an achievement, but what followed wasjust sensational, with the bowlers dismantling a powerful batting line-upin just 25.1 overs. “He bowled brilliantly for us,” said Dravid, whenasked specifically about Sreesanth’s man-of-the-match display. “Obviously,he’s a character, but he needs to be a bit careful. We wouldn’t want himto miss a game.”He chuckled when asked about Sreesanth’s impromptu celebrations afterwhacking Andre Nel for a straight six. “I’d rather have him do what he didwith the bat than what he did later. But I enjoyed his six. I enjoyeverything when Sreesanth bowls well. He’s a great character. A playerlike him, a character like him, needs to be celebrated and enjoyed.”And, as the storm clouds gathered over the stadium, he admitted that thehigh jinks weren’t about to end just yet. “It’s a good moment to betogether as a group and celebrate,” he said, with a big grin. “We played alittle bit of ‘Holi’. The boys need to learn to drink too, and not justspray it!”After what they have just accomplished, most Indians would forgive them that.