JOIN USIn the swinging and seaming conditions here, where most of the Indian batsmen found it hard to crack the English puzzle, the Bangalorean alone managed to score three hundreds in four matches for a total of 461 runs at an average of 77.
“They deserve it,” Dravid said when asked about England’s rise to the top. “It's not a nice feeling (to lose). But in their home conditions, in these conditions, they were superior to us,” he added.
While Dravid was not sure if he and other veterans in the side would be part of the squad when England tour India next, he was confident that the any Indian team will be hard nut to crack in home conditions.
“They (England) come to India next year some time, and whichever India team is playing then will be very keen to correct this series. Those will be our conditions, and it will be interesting to see how that series goes. That will be the biggest challenge for England.
“We know they have the bowlers and have the players to perform in these conditions, but the big challenge for England is going to be to come and win in India. Winning in India has not been easy for a lot of great sides; the Australian side and the West Indian side — which were regarded as the great teams — came to India and won. England needs to come and do that,” he observed.
England off-spinner Gra-eme Swann grudgingly agreed with Dravid.
“That’s obviously going to be the view from India,” he noted. “I would say to be number one you have to beat England in England. I’m sure Australians would say you've got to beat Australia in Australia. The litmus test for this team could be winning in the sub-continent. We’ve got to go play Pakistan and Sri Lanka this winter, and that could be a good test of where we are. You would think it’s going to be a more even contest (than this summer) in India, when our seamers aren’t as effective. With this bowling attack we have at the minute, in the conditions we have had this summer, I think undoubtedly we are the best team in the world,” he elaborated.
“It’s sad for us that collectively we’ve all had a tough tour,” remarked Dravid, when asked if it was frustrating for him to see his team-mates perform the way they did in the series. “That hasn’t happened to us for a long time, where all the batsmen have failed. People do have bad tours, but this time we haven’t clicked as a unit. No-one's going out there trying not to succeed, everyone’s been working hard, but we’ve just been found wanting against a better team,” he offered.