Shouldn't read too much into practice match loss: Dravid

Dravid said not much should be read into the team's crushing 103-run defeat at the hands of New Zealand in a warm-up game here last night. The Champions Trophy starts tomorrow with India playing their opening match on September 26 against Pakistan.

"We shouldn't read too much into it. When the main tournament begins, we would be alright," Dravid said after the match.

Neither bowling bowling nor batting clicked for India in the match and the team seemed to be missing explosive opener Virender Sehwag, who has been crucial to the team's success while chasing big targets.
But Dravid was confident of a better show in the main tournament.

The veteran right-hander said his optimism stemmed from the fact that conditions at the actual venue of the tournament, Wanderers and Centurion, would be dramatically different from here.
"The conditions in Johannesburg and Centurion would be different. This was a dry surface and it turned straightaway. Spinners bowled 30 overs (of the 50 overs) and that doesn't happen often in these conditions," he said.

Indians will spend three days at this venue where practice facilities and actual wicket is not ideal, being too slow and dry, but Dravid chose to look at the situation philosophically.
"These are not the best of facilities and it could have been better. But as international cricketers we do not always get ideal conditions," he said.
Dravid himself was pleased with his 37-run knock in the practice match but wished he had carried on a bit longer.
"It was a kind of wicket where if you get in, you need to make it count. I feel disappointed that I couldn't do it. But I feel good about my form," said Dravid.