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Dravid looking forward to Lankan, S African ODI series
NAGPUR—Newly appointed Indian Cricket Captain Rahul Dravid on Thursday
said he was looking forward to leading the national squad against both
Sri Lanka and South Africa in the forthcoming 12-match one-day series,
and added that Sachin Tendulkar’s return was a welcome development.
“I believe it will be a good series, Sri Lanka is a good team and we
will try our best to perform well in this series. And we should be able
to regain our lost performance. It is a start of the season, we have
already won quite a few matches in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe but lost out
in finals. We are hopeful of giving a good performance this season, it
was just the start we have the entire season ahead. We will be able to
perform well,” Dravid said.
“I am keen on playing alongside Sachin,” Dravid told reporters on his
arrival from Australia via Mumbai, adding that “It will be a big impact.
Sachin (Tendulkar) is a very important player in the team. He is a very
key member of our side and it’s very nice to have him back. I think it
going to have a big influence and I am sure he is looking forward to
coming back and playing after four months. It’s been a very long break
for him as well. So I am looking forward to playing with him”.
Dravid, anxious to see his newborn son, flew to Nagpur after deciding to
skip the team’s conditioning camp at Bangalore. Wife Vijeta gave birth
to a boy on October 11.
India, he said needed to play to its true potential if it wanted to beat
both Sri Lanka and South Africa in the upcoming series, Dravid said.
The first of seven one-day internationals against Sri Lanka will be held
here on October 25.
Dravid was asked to take over as captain of the Indian team for the
one-day series spread over two months after his predecessor Sourav
Ganguly was decalred unfit both in terms of health and cricket form.
Ganguly underwent a fitness test in Mumbai on Tuesday and was cleared to
play the East Zone Vs North Zone Duleep Trophy match in Rajkot, which
begins from today.
Dravid has had an on again off again stint as captain of the Indian
team. He so far has a 50 percent success rate in both forms of the game.
—Agencies |
