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Dravid eyes clean sweep against Bangladesh
Harish Kotian in Dhaka
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May 12, 2007 20:34 IST

Even though India secured a 2-0 victory in the three-match one-day international series with a 46-run win on Saturday, captain Rahul Dravid said they will not take it easy in the concluding ODI and aim for a clean sweep.

- Images from the match

"We will definitely try and win the series 3-0, no doubt," he told reporters in Dhaka.

This was India's first ODI series victory away from home after the 4-1 win over Pakistan in February last year.

Riding on Gautam Gambhir's solid knock of 101, India made a huge 284 for 8 and then restricted the hosts to 238 for 9 to seal the series victory.

However, there are still a few areas of concern, namely Virender Sehwag's batting.

The senior opener yet again threw his wicket away after a good start (21) to a reckless shot and it seems he learnt nothing from his mistake in the first ODI when he got out to a similar start.

"As I have said people have roles and they try and do things. People go up and have a role to play, sometimes it comes off and sometimes it doesn't. I am sure Veeru [Sehwag] will carry on from his scores, he is looking good. I am sure he also realises that he must carry on like Gautam did and get a big one," Dravid said.

Going by Dravid's comments, it seems unlikely that Sehwag may be dropped for the third ODI, who has time and again failed to learn from his mistakes.

Manager Ravi Shastri also sounded a warning that India would not relent in the final ODI and Bangladesh face another tough match.

"We have come here to show no mercy because we take no prisoners. We want to finish it 3-0. If Bangladesh is expecting us to go soft in the last game at Chittagong, they have another one coming," Shastri declared.

He said his main aim when he used to play and even now is to win each and every game.

"That's me when I play the sport, when I played the sport.

"I want to win every game I compete in. No matter what the opposition I think of winning. So obviously when I do speak to the boys it is paramount. Indian fans are very demanding and they would want India to beat Bangladesh 3-0," he added.

Gambhir, who scored the century, said he was pleased with his knock but felt the perfect icing on the cake was the series victory.

"It feels good [to get a century]. I was getting starts and it was important to carry on from those starts. I thought it was the right time because we were 1-0 up and to seal the series it was very important," he added.

This was the left-hander's second ton in ODIs. His previous century was against Sri Lanka (103) in Ahmedabad in November 2005, but, unfortunately, India had lost that match.

"Being on the winning side and getting a hundred it always feels great. When I got my first hundred we were on the losing side then. But today it feels great that we won the series and getting a hundred also," Gambhir said.

Skipper Dravid also praised the bowlers for their effort, especially the spinners as Bangladesh were never in the game.

"We were confident [of winning today] after putting up the score that we did. I always knew Bangladesh would find it difficult given the conditions. I thought our fast bowlers bowled really well at the start and then our spinners Piyush and Ramesh bowled beautifully," he said.



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