Deepak credits Dravid for blitz
Colombo, July 20: India pacer Deepak Chahar, who was an unexpected hero with the bat in the second ODI against Sri Lanka, on Tuesday said coach Rahul Dravid’s belief in his batting inspired him to produce a match-winning knock for his team.
Chahar came ahead of the more accomplished Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the batting order after India lost their six wickets for 160 runs while chasing 276. In the end, they both forged an unbeaten 84-run stand to script a threewicket win for India.
“No better way to win the match for the country. Rahul sir told me to play all the balls. I’ve played a few innings with India ‘A’ (when Dravid was coach) and I think he has belief in me.
“He told me he thinks I’m good enough to be a No. 7 (but he batted at 8). He has belief in me. Hopefully in the coming matches I don’t have to bat. When we came under 50 that’s when I believed we can win. Before that it was ball by ball. I took some risks after,” said Chahar.
Prior to this game, his highest scored in international cricket was 12.
Meanwhile, with its back to the wall, Team India responded like champions, said coach Rahul Dravid in an inspiring dressing room speech after his young side registered a series-clinching win in the second ODI against Sri Lanka.
“Obviously we finished
on the right side of the result, which is incredible and fantastic but even if we didn’t finish on the right side of the result, it is the fight all the way through was absolutely brilliant, so well done to all of you,” Dravid said.
“We said they were going to respond, we knew we had to respect the opposition. The opposition was going to respond, they’re also an international team. They responded, and we responded back like a champion team,” he further added. —