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Nottingham, July 26: Indian captain Rahul
Dravid today virtually threw a bait at his under-performing
middle order batsmen by asking them to answer to their critics
with a strong performance in the second cricket Test against
England.
Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav
Ganguly and VVS Laxman had all flopped in the first Test at the
Lord's, where India managed to save the match after rains ruled
out the final session. "When you are playing international
cricket you are being judged all the time. We have heard this
before. It's just a part and parcel of playing international
sport," Dravid said.
"If people don't perform, and results don't
come, then you are going to hear such things. The only way to
answer this criticism is to perform. It's not something to
worry, or fear, about. It's life!" he told reporters on the
match eve. On the reputations of seniors Indian batsmen hardly
matching their performances in recent times, and if there was
too much pressure on them, Dravid said pressure would always be
there when you play for the country.
"Reputations are built only on performances.
You can't have big reputations without performances. You don't
expect the young and inexperienced guys to perform because they
have not done it before. "When you play for India, pressure will
always be there because there are expectations and there's a
responsibility to do well. Anyway, reputations do not matter.
Every game starts at 0-0. It's how you perform that matters."
Dravid expressed confidence on his team,
saying they were quality players and could turn things around.
"The guys are experienced and there's a lot of quality there.
"We were in a similar situation on the last tour in 2002. We
lost at Lords. We came back strongly in the second innings here
in Nottingham and then went on to win the Headingley Test and
had a very good summer. It took us a bit of time even then. It's
no different this time," he said.
He played down the hype surrounding England's
aggressive instincts in the Lord's Test. "When you are playing
well and doing well, you look aggressive. England was aggressive
even under Naseer Hussain we came here in 2002. I see no
difference. It's all about playing good cricket. If you play
well, every team looks aggressive." Heavy drizzle for the second
day on the trot forced the Indians to head for the England
Cricket Board's Cricket Academy in Loughbourouh about 20 miles
away from Nottingham after arriving at Trent Bridge for an
afternoon session.
The ground staff at Trent Bridge has pressed
four Super Soppers into operations all afternoon to flush out
water from the outfield. The pitch and the square have been well
covered. The forecast for the first two days is a bit
encouraging but rains are expected thereafter. (Agencies)
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