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Home > Cricket > India's tour of Pakistan > PTI > Report


Team trying to develop fifth bowler: Dravid

February 15, 2006 16:59 IST

India captain Rahul Dravid [Images] urged his teammates to concentrate on playing their natural game and not get conscious of the fact that they are just one win away from clinching a one-day series victory against Pakistan.

Dravid said his team is adept in both chasing and setting targets and needs to play just one good game to record a series win for the second consecutive time on Pakistani soil.

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"We know we have to play well. We have to play one day of good cricket out of the remaining two to win the series. We are confident of doing it. We have shown in the last two games we can play well in all departments," Dravid told reporters ahead of the fourth one-day encounter in Multan on Thursday.

He said if the team plays according to plan without thinking too much about the outcome, a positive result would come automatically.

"We will not be concentrating so much on result as on planning and strategy and if we do it well it's very good," said the Bangalore stalwart, for whom the one-day triumph would come as some sort of solace after the loss in the Test series that preceded the one-day internationals.

The Indian skipper said his team is equally comfortable while setting or chasing scores.

"We are playing good cricket and have won 11 games when we have chased. We are confident of doing both. We have specific plans when we bat first or chase. I do not think we prefer doing one over another," Dravid said.

India set an imposing 329 for Pakistan to get in the series opener in Peshawar and the hosts won by D/L method when the match was called off after the 47th over, with Pakistan on 311.

India later chased scores of 265 and 288 convincingly in the next two matches at Rawalpindi and Lahore [Images].

Dravid said his team is trying to develop a fifth bowler from among Sachin Tendulkar [Images], Yuvraj Singh [Images], Virender Sehwag [Images] (who returned home to rest his injured shoulder) and Suresh Raina in order to include an extra batsman as the super sub.

"Sachin has bowled well in both the games. We are trying to develop the fifth bowler by using Sachin, Viru (Sehwag), Yuvraj and Raina. The only way to do so is to try giving them chances in pressure situations.

"It will give us a lot of options if two or three of them bowl well. Usually we have played a bowler as super sub but if these four players can do well with the ball we have the option of playing a batsman in that role," the Indian skipper said.

Dravid praised wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] and Irfan Pathan [Images] for taking up important roles in the batting order.

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"In the last ten months one of the main plus points for us is utilising players like Dhoni and Irfan in various positions. In Peshawar we sent Dhoni in at four and kept him back in Pindi. The idea is to help players experience tough situations in different positions," he said.

He was also effusive in his praise of Tendulkar, who, he said, had never been under any real pressure.

"He was not under pressure. The pressure was imagined by the media. He has been a champion batsman for so long and he knows how to handle these situations and how not to take pressures on himself.

"He has played beautifully and all three innings were critical ones. The top order has performed well because of him. I hope he continues to bat like the way he has been doing," Dravid said.

Asked about Pakistan missing the services of the injured Shoaib Akhtar [Images] and Shahid Afridi [Images], Dravid said his team is also depleted following the injury-forced absence of Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh [Images].

"We are also missing Sehwag and Harbhajan. They have been critical to our successes. But injuries are bound to happen in international cricket. Some players burn out and others are not performing to their potential.

"Pakistan are still a very good side even without Akhtar and Afridi," he pointed out.

Dravid maintained that toss is not that important because of the 11 am start.

"The toss won't give a big advantage for an 11 am start. It's very difficult to predict what will happen. A lot depends on conditions in the evening. The ball was moving a lot in the evening at Lahore, but if conditions are more or less the same throughout, then the toss won't matter," he said.


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