Dravid regrets controversial declaration

Rahul Dravid insisted that there were no problems with Sachin Tendulkar over the controversial decision that left him stranded on 194 in Multan, but admitted that it was a decision that he regrets in retrospect.

"Retrospect is a beautiful thing," he said. "If I had realised the match would have ended on the fourth day, I would have let him complete his double hundred. But it is no issue in the team. The way you [the media] bring it up all the time."

Dravid sent Tendulkar an SMS message on his birthday (April 24), and said that he had only added new facets to his game as a batsman. "If anything, his hunger for runs is increasing day-by-day," he said. "Look at his record in the last couple of years, it is phenomenal. Sachin is finding new and better ways to score runs. His appetite for runs is growing as he is getting older."

Dravid, who interacted with the media at a function organised by the Indian Women's Press Corps in Delhi, also said that he disliked The Wall sobriquet. "I can see you people giving headlines like "The Wall is crumbling" a few years from now," he said in jest.

On a more serious note, Dravid - in his role as an ambassador for Karnataka tourism - has invited the people of Pakistan to visit his home state. The response to the Karnataka tourism advertisement in Friday's edition of Dawn - which had the words, "Rahul invites you home..." - has been overwhelming, with hundreds of replies already.

Speaking to the Times of India, Mahendra Jain, who is tourism commissioner for Karnataka, said, "Overall, this is an exercise to use Dravid as a pullforce; as well as use his good performance and high opinion among the populace to reach out to the people of Pakistan. The decision was a conscious one, focus was clear and the timing perfect: use a combination of cricket and Bangalore's brand image in health tourism to plug the city and state. Once the usual approvals were through, we had no problem. It was handled like any other advertisement in a foreign country or a publication."