'There Will Be Different Opinions'

Dravid said the team gave itself "the best chance to win theseries" and rose up to the expectation to repeat the feat after a gap of 21years.

"I thought we gave ourselves the best chance to win the series. Everyoneput in a great effort and gave their best to whatever I asked of them. I was notdisappointed (that we could not win at the Oval). I think, we played a greatTest series and we will take the result.

"It's (1-0) a fair result. England dominated the first Test and wedominated the next two. We played some good cricket in critical moments. To beatEngland at home, where they have been traditionally so strong in the last sixyears gives us a lot of satisfaction," he said.

Dravid strongly defended his decision not to enforce the follow-on on thehosts, saying he knew the ground realities well and wanted to give a break tothe bowlers.

"There will be different opinions. Each one will have his own way oflooking at what is wise and what is not.

"As captain of the team, I know my players well. I know the dressingroom pretty well. I know the amount of workload my bowlers have gone through.It's the third Test match. We played the same bowling attack right through theseries and shared a lot of workload," he said.

Dravid said could understand the fans' disappointment back home, but chosenot to make them follow-on after assessing his players.

"I know, people might be disappointed because they wanted us to enforcethe follow-on. Maybe, if I was sitting in a living room, I would have said thesame things.

"As captain of the team I get a pulse of what's happening in the team,the feeling of the boys, the mood of the boys, how much I can push them, howmuch I can't push them, what is the right thing to do and what is not the rightthing to do. I have to back my judgement. That's what I earn my con for!

"At that point of time I felt pushing my boys would not be the rightthing to do. I wanted to give them some rest and get them charged up for todayand that's what they did by giving in a great performance."

Dravid said the collective effort was the major factor behind India's serieswin in England after over two decades.

"Contributions from everyone, I think, that really pleased me rightthrough the series. Everyone has chipped in, everyone has played a part. Thebowlers have really come through for us in this series and that's reallysatisfying. The batsmen have performed in critical moments.

"All of them have played for the team. They've dug the team out of ahole when it has been required. It's the contributions from everyone that'shelped.

"I feel very proud to have achieved what we have as a team. It's notvery often that it has happened; it's just the third time in all the years wehave been touring England. It's a tribute to the whole team."

Dravid said the fact that none of the top order batsmen got a century in theseries indicated to the collective effort in the side.

"I would have said great (that no batsman got a hundred). That's whatIndian cricket needs. We need contributions from everyone. We need differentheroes. We need people to stand up and be counted. That's been the great thingin this series.

"It's a very special achievement for the whole team. We have done wellaway from home in recent times but to come here and win here is special, more sobecause England had a good home record. We will enjoy we will celebrate. And wewill remember this for a long, long time!"

Paying tribute to the Indian pacers, Dravid said they executed the plans wellto earn success for the team.

"It's not that this has happened for the first time. There's no rocketscience behind it either. The key is the execution and our guys have executed itvery well. They have performed consistently right through the series. If yourbowlers perform well, more often than not, you will win."

Amid the joy of a rare series victory, Dravid, however, admitted that thequick fall of three wickets in second innings at Oval weighed on his mind andforced him to play a sluggish knock.

Dravid, who faced a lot of criticism for not enforcing follow-on and played a96-ball 12 in the second essay of the third Test, said he was disturbed by theturn of events and got caught up in that.

"It must have been excruciating for you all to watch so you can imaginehow excruciating it must have been for me to play that. We had decided not toenforce the follow-on and suddenly to be 11 for 3, there were lots of thoughtsrunning through your mind."

PTI