Dhoni should bat at 3: Dravid

Vice-captain Rahul Dravid dismissed theories about the Keenan stadium being a jinxed venue and said maintaining the intensity and form of the previous matches would help India gain an unassailable 3-0 lead in the six-match limited-overs cricket series against Pakistan.

"Every match is different. In the past, the players and situations were different. I don't see records at the venues," Dravid said on the eve of the third One-Day International.

India won the first two matches of the six-match series, in Kochi and Visakhapatnam, comprehensively but their win-loss at the Steel City is an abysmal 1-5, with one match abandoned.

Dravid, however, warned his teammates against being complacent.

"We are very much aware of what happened in the Test series. We dominated the first Test, won the second and then lost at Bangalore," he said.

"Pakistan is a good side. We have lot of respect for them. They will be keen to hurt us. They will bounce back hard at us. So we have to guard against complacency.

"We need to maintain the intensity of form and get the right result," he added.

'The Wall' felt the toss will not play a crucial role in the match.

"It's a good wicket. The team batting first will try to get a big score, may be 300-plus.

"And then the pressure will be on the other team. Because it is not easy to keep up to a big asking rate and also keep wickets," he said.

Terming the side's latest batting sensation Mahendra Singh Dhoni as brilliant, Dravid said the wicketkeeper-batsman should come at number three in the batting order and there should not be much change in the team and line-up.

"Logic says that there should not be any change in the side and Dhoni should come to bat at the same position. But the final eleven will be decided (later)."

With pacer Laxmipathy Balaji ruled out due to a rib injury, Dravid was evasive when asked if Ajit Agarkar would play tomorrow.

"We are yet to decide that. We are lucky to have all our four pacers in good form."