Fielding let India down: Dravid

The appalling fielding by Team India has been a cause for concern throughout the series, and after the defeat here last night, Rahul Dravid, pointed it out again.

The appalling fielding by Team India has been a cause for concern throughout the series, and after the defeat here last night, Rahul Dravid, pointed it out again.

8220;Our fielding is an area that does hurt us, especially in this type of low-scoring games,8221; he said. 8220;We had seven guys inside the ring to stop the single and still the opposition managed to get singles,8221; he added. Dravid, however, said that India had it in them to come back from this 8220;tough8221; situation. 8220;It8217;s tough, but I think when we reach Headingley we8217;ll be pretty keen.8221; India now have to win the remaining three games if they have to win the series.

8220;We know at the back of our minds that we could have won that game 8212; the series could easily have been so different. We knew we had the upper hand and only needed that one wicket,8221; the skipper said. Dravid, however, did not blame his bowlers for failing to wrap up the issue even after having England tottering at 114 for seven.

8220;I thought we bowled well. It was just that one wicket at that stage that we didn8217;t get,8221; Dravid said. The hosts were down at 114 for 7 before Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad stitched together an unbroken 99-run stand for the eighth wicket to lead them to victory.

8220;I knew that if they batted 50 overs they would probably get there,8221; the skipper said. 8220;We tried to keep getting wickets, we tried to change it around, but to be fair they didn8217;t give us a chance.8221;

Asked whether he thought the match was in India8217;s bag when England were 114/7, Dravid said: 8220;They do bat lower down the order. I think Broad coming at No 9 is a huge thing for them. They Broad and Bopara played sensibly; they are not lower order sloggers. The other big advantage they had was that the run-rate was low.

8220;It8217;s very disappointing but you have to give credit to the two boys, they played beautifully. We needed a wicket but credit to them, they played well.8221; About his 8220;chat8221; with umpire Ian Gould towards the end of the match, he said: 8220;We have communication between the umpires and captain all the time and there was nothing more to it than that.8221;