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| March 9, 2006 | Thursday | Safar 8, 1427 |
India need more than home advantage: Dravid
MOHALI, March 8: India captain Rahul Dravid said his team need more than just home advantage to gain the upper hand against a resolute England in the second Test on Thursday (today).
“The huge advantage India used to have playing at home probably does not exist anymore. Most teams plan their tours well these days,” Dravid told newsmen on eve of the match.
The home conditions did not help in the drawn opening Test at Nagpur as England played better cricket for a major part of the match despite missing key players.
England, without skipper Michael Vaughan, opener Marcus Trescothick and paceman Simon Jones, were brilliantly served by their newcomers to remind India that all was not well with the hosts’ batting and bowling.
Debutant opener Alastair Cook scored 60 and 104 not out, while left-arm spinner Monty Panesar dismissed star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and Mohammad Kaif for his first three Test victims.
Dravid said touring teams had learnt to adapt themselves in the sub-continent.
“To win Test matches you need to take 20 wickets. That is the key,” said Dravid, whose bowlers could grab just 13 on a low, slow Nagpur track.
“We have played on some wickets which have been pretty flat, slow and low. We should learn to take 20 wickets. We cannot always rely on the home conditions.
“There is a difference in the tourists’ attitude when you compare it with the teams of the 1970s and ‘80s. They look forward to touring the sub-continent and consider it a challenge. We now have only a slight advantage playing at home.”
Dravid said he expected an improved performance from his bowlers, especially spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh who shared 15 wickets in their team’s win against Nasser Hussain’s Englishmen at this venue in 2001.
They took just two wickets apiece in Nagpur.
“I expect this pitch to have a bit more bounce. With our spinners and our kind of stroke-makers, we enjoy wickets which have a bit of bounce on them. We will work on different strategies that will help us get 20 wickets,” he said.
India face a selection dilemma after the return of middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh from a hamstring injury. Mohammad Kaif, who replaced Yuvraj in the first Test, grabbed his chance to top-score with 91.
India have yet to decide whether to accommodate both or one.
England captain Andrew Flintoff said his team was confident going into the Test after an impressive show at Nagpur.
“It is cooler here than in Nagpur and conditions will be more favourable to us. I hope the pitch has more pace and bounce and that will certainly give us an edge,” he said.
“We went into the first Test with a definite plan where each player knew what he had to do. Fortunately, it worked for us.”
Teams (from):
India: Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Sri Sreesanth, R.P. Singh, Piyush Chawla, Munaf Patel.
England: Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff (captain), Geraint Jones, Ian Blackwell, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar, Liam Plunkett, James Anderson, Owais Shah, Shaun Udal.
Umpires: Darrell Hair and Simon Taufel (both Australia).
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).—AFP
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