India, on the defensive for most part of the final day in the first Test against England, stepped up gears in the final session. That's because, revealed skipper Rahul Dravid, the team decided at teatime to have a go at the target and give England a scare.
"We looked at it at teatime and then thought that we could just try and give England a scare. It is always going to be a challenge to score quickly on a slow, low wicket... and chasing eight runs an over is never easy," Dravid said after play ended on Sunday
Chasing a target of 368, India, 131 for 1 at tea, suddenly went for the cleaners in the final session and finished on 260 for 6 as the match ended in a draw. They amassed 129 runs in 22.2 overs after tea to provide some much-needed entertainment to the spectators, who were bored till then by the dull proceedings.
"Just thought we would give it a hit, and if [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni or Irfan [Pathan] have a good day, you never know what could happen."
Dravid paid rich tributes to opener Wasim Jaffer, who registered his maiden Test century and, in the process, thwarted England's push for victory. The Mumbai batsman batted nearly five hours, scoring 100, to follow up on his 81 in the first innings.
"Jaffer played well in this match. I am really happy with his comeback. His temperament and composure is just creditable. He has been away from international cricket for a while, fought back, scored tons of runs in domestic cricket and earned his place back in the side.
"He played two lovely innings in this match. He is a promising batsman and hope he can kick-start and have a successful career from here on," he said.
Asked whether India would have benefited had they included an extra bowler, Dravid replied: "You can say that, but our sixth batsman [Kaif] was involved in that 120-run partnership with Anil Kumble, which proved to be very important."
The Karnataka batsman said the wicket didn't help the bowlers and getting wickets was a real tough task.
"It was a slow, low wicket. There was not much bounce. The wicket got slower as the match went on. Once the batsman played defensive cricket it was difficult to get him out. The wicket was very slow. I didn't have that much bounce yesterday as we had expected."
He also give his team credit for fighting it out after conceding a 70-run lead in the first innings.
"It is never easy to bat on a fifth day wicket, but we fought back well. We had our backs to the wall right through the Test match, but we did well to keep fighting."
Dravid also praised the young England side on their fine performance despite missing the services of opener Marcus Trescothick, fast bowler Simon Jones and captain Michael Vaughan.
"England performed well in this match. They batted well in both the innings. Two of their batsmen scored centuries. They overcame their injury problems and did well," Dravid said.
Harbhajan Singh once again struggled in this match, bowling 64 overs in both innings for a return of two wickets for 172 runs. He was wicketless in his previous two Tests in Pakistan.
But Dravid defended his off-spinner saying: "It was not an easy wicket to bowl on. The spinners didn't get as much bounce as expected even on the fourth and fifth day. It is easy to be critical, but Harbhajan is a proven performer for us. And I am sure before the series is over he will have a major role to play and will be a factor in the game."
He also spoke in defence of Virender Sehwag, who was out to careless shots in both innings of the Test. The dashing opener has now scored just 11 runs in his last four innings.
"Sehwag is one of the best openers in the world. He is that sort of player who sometimes goes through a rough patch, but then he comes back with a big innings. He is that sort of a player who scores at a quick rate, which gives us a good chance of winning Test matches," he said.
Dravid commended his pacers, saying they put in a good showing on unhelpful conditions.
"On a wicket that didn't offer much help, Irfan and Sreesanth bowled really well. Sreesanth, playing his first Test, was very impressive. He ran in hard, bent his back and did a lot of hard work. We were looking for someone who can hit the deck and bowl consistently at 135-140 kmph and, hopefully, Sreesanth keeps going from here. He is a young boy so, hopefully he can go from strength to strength," said Dravid, adding he was expecting that England would put India in for a few overs yesterday, but Kevin Pietersen's wicket foiled their attempts.
"We thought they would give us eight to ten overs last night, but if Pietersen had stayed on for a little more, then it would have probably been the chance for them to score quicker. And with Cook batting really well and nearing a century on debut, they were quite keen to give him that chance to get that hundred. They had to wait, and by the time they waited for that it was quite late," he said.
Looking ahead at the next two Tests, Dravid said: "We are hoping for wickets with a bit more bounce in the coming matches. Hopefully, Mohali and Mumbai will have a bit more bounce and there should a bit more for the bowlers."
