'It was an unfortunate way to lose the match' - Dravid

Rahul Dravid has said that India's inability to capitalise on a wonderful launching pad had cost them the opening one-dayer at Peshawar, adding that losing on a technicality was an "unfortunate" outcome.

"We should have got more runs in the last ten overs after the start we got," he said referring to India's stutter from 305 for 5 to 328 all out. "Unfortunately a few legbefore dismissals happened to us and there were some great catches taken too."

He defended the move to promote Pathan and Dhoni ahead of himself and said that he would have walked out to bat earlier had events taken a different turn. "The plan was to mix the consolidators with the power-hitters who were there till the 42nd or 43rd overs," he continued. "It was a calculated move. I would have come out to bat early had Sachin got out."

Dravid was glad that Sachin Tendulkar had bounced back into form but felt that the bowlers could have done a bit better. "He [Tendulkar] played a great knock. If he bats for 100-120 balls he ends up making a hundred. It was good to see him back in form. It's a good sign for us. We could have bowled better on the flat track, but at the same time we have to say that the outfield was pretty fast and there was hardly any distance between the rope and the advertisement hoardings for the fielders to make a lunge at the ball before it crossed the boundary line."

Yet, India squandered a great chance to go 1-0 up in the series and Dravid felt that the game could have gone either way if bad light hadn't intervened. "It was an unfortunate way to lose the match," he added talking about the match being called off three overs in advance, "but rules are rules and they are part of the game. The match was heading towards an exciting finish when it had to be called off."