da dobrowin： Rahul Dravid was a downcast man after the embarrassing 157-run defeat atKingsmead, admitting that his team just wasn’t good enough in the face ofsome hostile and accurate fast bowling from South Africa’s quintet
Dileep Premachandran at Durban22-Nov-2006
‘After a nightmarish start to the tour, Dravid can only take consolation in thefact that it can’t get any worse. Or will it?’ © Getty Images
Rahul Dravid was a downcast man after the embarrassing 157-run defeat atKingsmead, admitting that his team just wasn’t good enough in the face ofsome hostile and accurate fast bowling from South Africa’s quintet. From62 for 2, the downward spiral was spectacular and brief, with Andre Neland Jacques Kallis picking up 7 for 16 between them.Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni accounted for 67 ofthose runs, and Dravid was forced to admit later that the India’s fortuneson this tour may well rest on his and Tendulkar’s shoulders. “We are theexperienced players of the team; we are the ones who have been herebefore,” he said. “We’re pretty disappointed not to have put up a bettershow with the bat after we did well to restrict them to 248.”The bowling effort had been full of promise, with the runs kept downdespite a marvellous century from Jacques Kallis. “There were some goodsigns with the ball and some positives came out of our bowling,” he said.”I was pretty happy with the way the boys performed in the first half ofthe game. But we were just not good enough with the bat.”With Shaun Pollock bowling a superb opening spell, South Africa got theearly breakthrough they needed to defend 248, and once Charl Langeveldtand Nel produced beautiful deliveries to get rid of Dravid and Tendulkar,the descent into hell was mercifully quick. “Probably, our shot selectionagainst some of the fast bowlers is something we need to look at andreassess when we go into the next match,” said Dravid. “We will bedefinitely looking to perform much better with the bat. We have toimprove from here and put in some better performances if we want tocompetitive in the series.”This was India’s 13th one-day defeat in 17 games against South Africa inthese climes, and Dravid accepted that it would take an almighty effort toturn things around. “It’s going to be a challenge,” he said. “That’s whereyour ability and character are tested. And if you can come out of a tourlike this with some good scores and runs, it will give you a lot ofconfidence.”We will have to play better. After going through how we got out, we willhave to learn. I must say that the South Africans bowled well, and we didnot have a good day.”After a nightmarish start to the tour, he can only take consolation in thefact that it can’t get any worse. Or will it?