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| April 15, 2006 | Saturday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1427 |
Dravid hopes to end ODI series against England on winning note
INDORE (India), April 14: India skipper Rahul Dravid says his side have no intentions of easing up in the last One-day International against England and insists they will be going for a win on Saturday.
“We'll play to win. We'll see what the best combination is,” the 33-year-old batsman told a news conference on Friday, brushing aside suggestions that the hosts would use the final match to blood some fresh talent.''Whatever team we pick, we'll try to win the match, but with an eye on the future,'' said Dravid, who returns from a two-match rest to lead the side in the final encounter.
''We're not just looking at one match, the team management sometimes looks ahead of the tour,'' he said.
''We've got some young fast bowlers and need to find out who're the best of the lot,'' Dravid maintained.
Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar are the two seasoned members of the Indian pace attack, while Shantakumaran Sreesanth and Rudra Pratap Singh broke into the team last year.
Two others, Munaf Patel and Vikram Rajvir Singh, made their debuts during the current series.
India won the first four matches to claim an unassailable lead in the series. The fifth match was washed out and the tourists recorded a consolation five-wicket victory at Jamshedpur where the hosts rested a few key players.
Dravid, who opted out of the last two matches, said the misfiring top-order would be looking to use this opportunity to bat their way into form.
“It has been a worry. We probably have to get runs in the top of the order, and that is what we will be looking to do tomorrow (Saturday),” said Dravid, who opened the batting in the third and fourth ODIs, bringing solidity at the top in the absence of an injured Sachin Tendulkar.
The extended slump of opener Virender Sehwag and middle-order batsman Mohammad Kaif have been a cause for concern.
Sehwag, who led in the previous match in Dravid's absence, had spoken of sitting out in the final match. But Dravid, who was born in Indore, was giving nothing away.“We want to get the best out of our players. Sometimes it might mean playing people a little bit more, and sometimes it might mean giving them a bit of a break,” he said.
“Like how we decided to give Mahenda Dhoni a break before the series against Pakistan (in Abu Dhabi on April 18 and 19).”
The burly wicketkeeper-batsman, who made a valiant 96 at Jamshedpur, will be missing his first ODI since his debut in Bangladesh in December 2004. Dinesh Karthik, a regular member in the Test side till 2004-05, takes his place.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh did not bowl at the nets. Dravid said the bowler had a slight niggle but he should be OK.
England is keen to salvage some more pride from the last game of a long tour, but it is still unsure whether series captain Andrew Flintoff will play on Saturday.
Flintoff sat out of the sixth match, providing Andrew Strauss his first chance to lead England.
Strauss produced an emphatic innings to seal England's victory after the bowlers had restricted India to a modest total.
Flintoff did not take part in practice on Friday.
All England players were declared fit for the match.—Agencies
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