'It was an unfortunate way to lose the match' - Dravid
Lack of runs towards the end let India down, feels Rahul Dravid
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Peshawar
06-Feb-2006
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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."
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is staff writer of Cricinfo