Dravid - 'I felt in control throughout'
Rahul Dravid's assured century against Pakistan lost out on the limelight because Sachin Tendulkar reached 10,000 Test runs on the same day
![]() |
|
I quite enjoyed the rhythm that I had throughout the day. I felt in control throughout my innings. There are a lot of days when you can turn up and score a hundred but still not feel in control and have to fight very hard. Today I somehow felt right in control from the beginning and in that sense it was a pleasing knock becaause it was fluent and I hit the ball right from the middle of the bat. It's definitely one of my better hundreds.
In that innings [180 v Australia] I was definitely not in control throughout. Even in the last match I felt I was in good control till I reached 39, but then when I came back on the next day it just wasn't there.
Yes, definitely. It's not nice to get out in the last over of the day. It's also disappointing because I think it's important for us to get about 100 runs more. It would have been good to string a partnership with the tail and push the score on.
It's always nice to do well here. It's a place I've always done well at. I have very fond memories of the ground and if we can get a good result out of this game that will be great.
There was no specific strategy to score fast even when losing wickets. The pitch was good and the outfield is fast. We got a very good start from Sehwag and Gambhir and the rest of us just wanted to build on the momentum.
I have some thoughts and plans for virtually every player I come up against. You think about what shots to play, what areas you can score in, and what shots not to play. You've obviously done your homework and know what the strengths and weaknesses of each bowler are.
There was a lot of noise and Sachin came to me and asked: "What's happening?" He knew basically that he was close to 10000, but not exactly how close. I think he was at 9998 at that stage, and I told him, `two more to go, but 15,000 is the real target'
There's no timeframe. The next thing is to play the next innings and get off the mark.