Getting There

'We have won everywhere we have toured, won series as well. It's been an improvement, even though not probably as quickly as we would have liked and not as emphatically as we would have liked. But these are small steps along the way.'

A.V. Nayudu

Updated on: 31 July 2007 12:00 am

Getting There

"Every win that we have, we can take heart from that," Dravid saidafter India's seven-wicket win at Trent Bridge today.

"We have played well abroad in the last four-five years. We have woneverywhere we have toured, won series as well.

"It's been an improvement, even though not probably as quickly as wewould have liked and not as emphatically as we would have liked. But these aresmall steps along the way.

"It's great especially for the younger players who haven't seeninternational success away from home. That's something that will spur them onand inspire them to do much better."

It was only India's fifth win in 47 Tests they had played in England.Avoiding defeat in the third and final Test at The Oval from August 9 will givethem their first series win in 'Old Blighty' in 21 years.

India, although they have had strong batting line ups throughout theirhistory, are not known to play well overseas.

Their 1-0 win in the Caribbean last year was their first - ignoring the 2-0success over a lowly Zimbabwe in 2005 - outside the sub-continent since KapilDev led them to a 2-0 triumph in England in 1986.

Yet, led by Sourav Ganguly, they beat Steve Waugh's Australia in Adelaidebefore the champions bounced back to level the series in 2003-04.

Then they went on to defeat Pakistan 2-1 the same season, their first-evervictory across the border.

In 2002, Ganguly's side crushed Nasser Hussain's England at Headingleyalthough the series was drawn.

Dravid said these wins had added steel to the team's character."Whenever we go abroad, everybody expects very little of us in anycase," he said with a laugh.

"So every time we perform abroad, it's going to be like we have donesomething great. But expectations have increased in the last 4-5 years.

"People expect us to come here and perform. And we expect ourselves tocome here and perform. We don't come here to be another team."

Dravid pointed out a curious fact that although the team has been tigers onthe slow, turning tracks at home, their rare away wins have come in moresporting conditions.

"I have always felt that we have done well when we had the opportunityto take 20 wickets," he said.

"Wherever the conditions give us the chance, we definitely take 20wickets. Yes, we might lose an odd game but we also win games.

"I have always felt that our best chance is in games where there isdefinitely going to be a result.

"Sometimes on flat wickets we struggle to take 20 wickets and that putsus on the back foot quickly.

"Even the last time we won here in Headingley, we had the chance to take20 wickets. All it needs is one good batting performance from us and it sets upthe game."

Dravid equated the Trent Bridge win with England's success in Mumbai lastyear, in terms of satisfaction the two teams should have derived.

"England have a very good record in England. And for us to come here andbeat them convincingly is probably as sweet for us as it must have been for themwhen they beat us in Bombay on the last tour," he said.

Dravid was all praise for man of the match Zaheer Khan who turned the matchon its head with a sensational spell on the fourth day.

"It was a great team effort. Zaheer was obviously the star of ourbowling. He really showed what a leading bowler must do," the skipper said.

"In these conditions he was asked to put up his hand and he did that.Whenever we expected him to perform he did that.

"On the first day, when we won the toss, Zaheer stood out. Yesterdayafternoon, when the game was in a balance, he took the game by the scruff of itsneck and delivered."

Zaheer was also at the centre of a sledging controversy. He was seen pointinghis bat to Kevin Pietersen while batting on the third evening.

The 28-year-old paceman said later that the England players upset him bythrowing jelly bean at the crease and it actually fired him up the next day whenhe bowled.

"If he is going to do so well every time after he gets upset, I wouldrather like him to be upset," Dravid said in a lighter vein.

"I've never seen Zaheer so keen and so fired up ... What really gives megreat satisfaction is what Zaheer has done with the ball.

"That for me is mental strength. That for me is toughness. That's thekind of toughness that I expect from my team.

"If we can keep putting up these performances in difficult conditions,we can produce a lot more results showing that kind of mental toughness on thefield."

PTI