India vice-captain Rahul Dravid has clarified that the decision of not meeting the media on return from Pakistan last week was not taken by members of the team.
"This was not our decision. We had no idea who was waiting for us and who was not waiting. We would have been happy to meet the press who had been very supportive right through our tour of Pakistan," Dravid told newsmen at a press conference, organized by Samsung, in New Delhi on Saturday.
Members of the victorious Indian team were whisked away soon after they landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi without meeting the media, which had waited for hours to talk to them.
Asked how the team reacted when Pakistan coach Javed Miandad compared Irfan Pathan with an ordinary street bowler in Pakistan, Dravid said he was not sure if Miandad had indeed made such a comment.
"After we won the series Miandad came to us and praised Pathan. He spoke highly about the future of this young fast bowler. I am not sure if he had indeed made the comment that was attributed to him. So I cannot react to that," Dravid explained.
In retrospect, do you feel should have allowed Sachin Tendulkar to complete his double hundred before declaring in the first Test at Multan?
"Restrospect is a beautiful word. If I had known that the match would end within four days I would have surely allowed him to complete two hundred. But this is now a matter of past. We have sorted out things and what is important is that we won the match," he said with a smile.
He also added that he had called up Tendulkar and wished him on his birthday. He said that Tendulkar was a great player and age had not affected his game over the years.
"If Sourav Ganguly, Tendulkar and me retire, then there are a lot of young players who can take our places," he said.
He said he was happy that Sourav Ganguly could take over as the captain of the team in the third and final Test and lead it to a memorable victory over Pakistan.
He felt it was the batsmen who let the team down in the second Test, at Lahore, which allowed Pakistan to level the series one-all.
Ace spinner Anil Kumble said he was delighted to reach home in time for the birth of his son. The Karnataka bowler returned to India after the first Test to be beside his wife during delivery.
Asked whether he would like his son to become a fast bowler or spinner, he replied; "He is barely three weeks old. But I certainly would not want him to become a bowler. I think batting is far more easy."
To this Dravid replied, "For Kumble, batting seems easy as he is a bowler. But the fact is that, both batting and bowling are very difficult, and requires a lot of hard work and training."
Pathan said there is no short cut to success and the only way to succeed is hard work.
Besides Dravid, Kumble and Pathan, Mohammad Kaif, Ashish Nehra, Parthiv Patel and Harbhajan Singh were also present at the press conference.
The Indian team donated Rs one million to the National Network for the Disabled, an organization run by Javed Abidi, who despite his physical disability has filed nomination papers for the New Delhi parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha.
