Journalism of Courage
Worried about his team8217;s away record after losing to Royal Challengers Bangalore,Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid said the side hasn8217;t played its best cricket yet but oozed confidence of getting there with a balanced side at his disposal.
8220;In terms of winning away games I think it is going to be important as the tournament goes on. We have played very well at home by winning all three games. We have won a game away but lost two,8221; Dravid told reporters in the post-match press conference here.
8220;We have to improve our record there. it is a long tournament. We still haven8217;t played our best cricket and hopefully we can do that.
8220;One of the good thing about our team which I like is that we got the balance which allows us to play better away from home and that is the reason why I am a little more confident,8221; he added.
Talking about the loss against Bangalore,Dravid said the team lost its way once his partnership with Stuart Binny was broken.
8220;We thought of getting 50 runs in the last five overs and post a total of 160 on the board to defend. Bangalore has been a 150-160 wicket and we knew that. Unfortunately we never really got that extra 30 runs which we probably needed in the game,8221; he said.
Dravid said the team needed only one batsman to play a big innings but failed.
8220;We were disappointed after putting up a really good batting performance against Mumbai a few days ago8230;How we bounce back is going to be important for us,8221; he said.
However,Dravid said he was impressed with his bowlers for taking wickets at various stages of the match even though a total of 117 was not quite defendable.
8220;Obviously going ahead,it is important for our top four or five batsmen to score runs for us as we have a long tail.
We have been doing it so far in this tournament but we failed here,8221; he said.
Replying to a query,the former Indian captain said West Indian all-rounder Kevin Cooper was left out of the side and
Shaun Tait and James Faulkner were picked in order to remove Chris Gayle early on.
8220;They Bangalore have a top-heavy batting lineup. We tried to pick the team we thought we have the best chance to get Chris out and Tait and Jimmy have got him in the past,8221; he said.
With such a low score to defend,Gayle was able to play a very different game and without any pressure,the Rajasthan skipper said.
Replying to a query,Dravid said Sreesanth missed out on getting more than an over as he planned to attack the Bangalore batsmen by rotating the bowlers.
8220;Sree just started and then as the game panned out we wanted to get wickets. Therefore I rotated my bowlers all the
time. It is bit tough to give everyone a bowl and Sree missed out,8221; he said.
Replying to a query,Dravid said the team is expecting a lot from Australia8217;s Shane Watson.
8220;He seems to be in a really good space. He is going to build up his workload,8221; he said.
