India coach gary kirsten underlines the importance of Rahul Dravid, who has been in his zone during the Ahmedabad and Kanpur test matches
India coach gary kirsten underlines the importance of Rahul Dravid, whou00a0 has been in his zone during the Ahmedabad and Kanpur test matches
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Prized catch: Rahul Dravid during the Indian team's fielding session at the Brabourne Stadium yesterday ahead of their third Test against Sri Lanka. pic/atul kamble |
His contribution to India's success in the most demanding version of the game has been invaluable. As they stand one win away from claiming the biggest prize in world cricket the No 1 Test ranking, it is Dravid again who has been their man of the moment.
Dravid has been an absolute thorn in Sri Lanka's flesh in the ongoing series. If not for his imperious 177 on the first day of the rubber at Ahmedabad, Lanka had a bright chance of being in the driver's seat, having reduced India to 32 for four. The Indian legend followed it with an equally classy 144 in the second game at Kanpur to help India take the lead.
Jammy's back
The Indian middle-order stalwart was not in the best of forms lately, but to Sri Lanka's bad luck, he chose this series to get back to his best.
When Gary Kirsten took over as the India coach, helping Dravid regain his confidence was one of his biggest challenges. And as Kirsten admitted, he always realised the importance of having Dravid at his best for the team's success in Test cricket.
"He's a crucial, crucial component to our success in Test cricket. We know he's a tremendous player but in terms of what he offers us, in terms of our balance in our batting line-up, we need a player of his style and nature," Kirsten told MiD DAY. "He's been brilliant in this series."
Kirsten added that Dravid's loss of form wasn't really a concern for him.
"He is a great cricketer and I have seen him for many years standing at mid-off, and now while working with him. I understood that loss in form, as we all sort of go through it. There is not too much technically you can do. It's all a mental process. He went through a tough time and he's come out of it and all credit to him. He's playing some of his best cricket in life.
Fitter
"He's enjoying his cricket and he's really hitting the ball as good as I have seen. He's much fitter now than he was and he's made some personal decisions about how to go about it," Kirsten said.
Trailing 0-1 going into the final game of the rubber, Sri Lanka is down for the count. Naturally, it's Dravid's wicket which is their top target as they plan their strategy for the series-decider starting at the Brabourne Stadium today.
It is not that Lanka had not planned for Dravid's wicket. Muttiah Muralitharan had an upper hand in his duels with Dravid and he was to be their man to do the job. What has caught the visitors off guard has been the effortless way in which Dravid has handled Murali.
"Dravid's playing more freely. Murali had done well against him in the past, but he has played him very well in this series. His defence was always solid, but most of the time he batted as if he was putting undue pressure on himself. However, in this series what's been impressive is that he's been more attacking. He's looking to dominate," said Chandika Hathurusinghe, Sri Lanka's Shadow Coach.
The Lankans have promised to go all out for a win at the Brabourne, but they are well aware that The Wall stands between them and a coveted Test win in India.
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