da apostebet： Rahul Dravid was keen to underscore the fact that the selection of the squad forthe World Cup would not be made simply on the basis of a few matches
Anand Vasu in Rajkot10-Feb-2007
Rahul Dravid believes the performances of the bowlers will be the key to the match on Sunday © AFP
Rahul Dravid was perched a plastic chair on the outfield of the MadhavraoScindia Cricket Ground in Rajkot when he addressed the media in thecustomary pre-match press conference ahead of the second one-day international againstSri Lanka. Surrounded by a gaggle of members of the television and printmedia jostling for space he put the forthcoming match in perspective.Dravid was keen to underscore the fact that the selection of the squad forthe World Cup would not be made simply on the basis of a few matches.”Ideally we would have liked the guys to have played as much as possiblebut I don’t think the fact that they have not played as much as we wouldhave liked will hamper World Cup selection,” said Dravid. “We don’t makejudgments on people who have been playing for a long while on the basis ofone game, one innings or one or two matches. Just from the point of viewof finding out what is our best combination, it is a bit of an irritant.But I’d rather have a few injuries now than in the middle of the WorldCup. We don’t view it as any added pressure. We don’t judge the World Cupsquad just on the basis of this one performance.”Having said that Dravid also spoke about how he was happy with the mannerin which the Indian squad was shaping up. “What I like about the squad weare getting together at the moment is that it gives us the flexibility tobe able to play different kinds of combinations based on the conditions weare confronted with, based on the team we will be up against and based onthe form of the individuals.”While saying this Dravid did say that there were a number of fitnessconcerns in the team. “We still are a little concerned about the boys interms of their fitness. They have practised a little bit today but it’s aquestion of how they pull up tomorrow,” he said. “There are stillconcerns, especially with Irfan [Pathan] and Yuvraj [Singh]. Ajit [Agarkar] still has to recover from the flu. We will see and assess it in the morning and make a call in themorning.”When pressed once more about the fact that Sri Lanka were playing these gameswithout Muttiah Muralitharan or Chaminda Vaas, Dravid explained how theabsence of the two experienced campaigners may not necessarily hit SriLanka hard. “It’s always hard to replace players of that quality butone-day cricket is not just about the stars or the big-names but moreabout collective team performances,” he said. “We have shown in the pastthat you can do well even if one or two of the big names are injured. Inone-day cricket, you can sometimes make up the loss of the experiencedplayers by mixing and matching your team.”At the same time Dravid also looked beyond the issue of team selection andreiterated that India were keen to win against Sri Lanka, and hoped hisbowlers would lift their performances and force a positive result. “Thewicket looks good, like Rajkot usually does. I hope there is a goodatmosphere tomorrow,” he said. “It looks a good batting wicket, hopefully our bowlers can bowl well. If we can bowl wellhere, I am hopeful that we can win.”