‘Middle-overs batting will be key’

Win back home no advantage over Sri Lanka, says Team India skipper Rahul Dravid

Team India captain Rahul Dravid made it clear today that the emphatic series victory when Sri Lanka toured the country will not give his boys any psychological advantage in the upcoming tri-series, because Sri Lanka were difficult opponents at home.

India had thrashed the Lankans

6-1 at home in October last year, but Dravid said their Asian rivals had come a long way since. “I don’t believe in such things as psychological advantage. The 6-1 win was a long time ago and lot of water has gone under the bridge,” Dravid said at a press conference ahead of the tournament which has South Africa as the third team.

“All three teams start on even footing, and it will be a matter of who gets used to the conditions fast and better,” the Indian skipper added. Dravid said India will find their task that much harder as Lanka have been on a roll with good performances in England followed by the 2-0 Test series win over South Africa. And the South Africans themselves were no easy meat. “Sri Lanka have played well recently and the series in England has given them confidence. They have the momentum going and they are especially formidable at home,” he said.

“South Africa are ranked number two in the world. They have some explosive players, and in the last two years, if you look at their record, they have been second only to Australia. They even successfully chased a target of 434,” Dravid said.

The Bangalorean said handling the middle overs in batting would be one of the key areas for India’s success. “We did well against the same set of spinners when they came to India, hopefully we can do well here as well. The key is to bat well in the middle overs. One of the areas where we failed last time was that we did not play bowlers like Tillekeratene Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya well.”

Dravid, however, warned about the danger of focusing only on tackling Sri Lanka’s spearhead Muttiah Muralitharan. “We have played Murali in the past. He is a difficult bowler, especially at home under lights. So, the strategy for teams coming here has been about playing Murali. But we cannot focus on one bowler. They also have Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando, and Lasith Malinga has also been bowling well.

“We tend to forget that there is the whole South African team to be dealt with.”

K KUMARASWAMY