Dravid always confident

India captain always felt run chase was on

Last updated: 5th September 2007

Dravid Rahul India ODI Aug 07

Dravid: Confident

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

India captain Rahul Dravid says his side always felt confident of reaching their hefty victory target against England.

Being set 317 to win is a big ask, but the modern one-day game has seen totals getting higher and bigger.

Dravid admitted that in years gone by trying to chase anything over 300 was almost impossible, but that was not the case at the Oval on Wednesday.

A Late cameo innings from Robin Uthappa got India over the line to level the one-day series up at 3-3 and set up a thrilling final match at Lord's.

"When we started playing (one-day cricket) if a team got 300 you thought 'What's the point going out to bat'," Dravid told Sky Sports.

"But it's changed. We knew if we went out to bat there was a genuine belief we could get this score."

Bowling plan

England had struggled in their innings, but a century from Owais Shah and devastating final over that saw Yuvraj Singh go for 30 as Dimitri Mascarenhas smashed five successive sixes, got England up to 316.

Dravid conceded that opting to bowl Yuvraj in the final over had not exactly gone to plan.

"When he gets hit for 30 in an over you wonder a bit; we tried some different combinations (over the series) and it didn't work out.

"We have to play better, we know that. We don't always want to be scoring 300 to win games but it will be a great game at Lord's."

Dravid had special praise for Uthappa, who produced some unorthodox but brilliant shots at times to get India home off the third-last delivery.

"I've never seen Robin bat at seven before," said Dravid. "He's got a good cricketing brain.

"He's improving all the time and working very hard in nets. Watching him he's begging to be picked.

"The way he managed the chase was very good."