Dravid hails 'brilliant' Zaheer

Rahul Dravid was glad that his move to bat at No.5 came off, a position from where he could control the innings. He was quick to acknowledge the bowlers' contribution to the victory, keeping Sri Lanka down to 230, and urged them to continue their form during the World Cup.

"I'm comfortabe batting anywhere," said Dravid at the end of the game, "but yes, one of the things we did discuss was me to bat at No.5 and control the innings and if we are under pressure to adapt and play suit my game according to the situation. So I'd glad it came off today and I'm glad I had the partnership with Dhoni which won us the game."

Dravid achieved a personal milestone during the course of his 66, becoming only the sixth batsman to cross 10000 ODI runs. "Ten thousand is just really a number," he said while downplaying the feat. "It's nice to get there. I think one of the things that gives me satisfaction in my one-day career is the fact that I've batted in different positions - from No.1 to 7. And I've done pretty well in all the positions. Also I've kept wickets. Sure 10,000 is nice. If you play 300-odd games and you've been a successful player, I think you'll end up with those sort of numbers."

He reserved a large share of praise for the bowlers, though. "Zak [Zaheer Khan] performed beautifully for us. Munaf [Patel] has also bowled beautifully this season. The last 10-12 games has been superb. Ajit [Agarkar] has bowled well for us. These three boys are very important for us in the world Cup. These are our key players. Zaheer is one of them. I just hope he's peaking at the right time. I would have liked to bat first as well. But after Zak bowled a brilliant spell to get them down to 6-3, I wasn't disappointed then."

Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's captain, admitted that Dravid's innings was the turning point of the match. "Initially the ball was keeping low and we did well to recover from the initial loss of wickets to pose a competitive total," he said. "We had reduced India to 94 for 4 and we had a good chance then to come back into the match. But Rahul and Dhoni batted well and they took singles pretty well to keep up with the run rate. Rahul was a calming influence and his innings really made a difference. If we had taken a wicket at that time we would have had a good chance to win the game."