By Qaiser Mohammad Ali
IANS
Dhaka : India captain Rahul Dravid said Sunday that his team emerged from a "lose-lose situation" to win the One-day International (ODI) and Test series against Bangladesh following the World Cup disaster recently.
India won the rain-marred ODI series 2-0 and the two-match Test series 1-0 to avenge the surprise World Cup defeat at the hands of Bangladesh, though Dravid did not mention revenge word.
"For us, in some ways it was a lose-lose situation, wasn't it? Had we not done well, people would have said 'what's happening'. Had we won, it's not a big deal," Dravid said at a press conference after India's innings and 239-run win here Sunday.
"So, it was tough in that sense. But we weren't focusing on that. We were just trying to get some batsmen in good form and try to see that the bowling came good. I think we've achieved that. Our heads are firmly on our shoulders," he outlined.
The margin of Sunday's victory was India's biggest ever in 409 Test matches since their debut against England at Lord's, London, in 1932.
"I don't get excited by most situations. My belief is to keep things in perspective whether it is victory or defeat. We will take some heart from this win, some positives. We know there are some tougher challenges ahead of us," said Dravid.
Dravid said that it was a good series for openers Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik ahead of the tougher tour of England starting next month.
"They've given me confidence. Wasim's comeback has been good for India. He's got some big scores, some low scores. The challenge for him would be to be consistent, put a string of good scores together, which is what a good opener should do," he said of the Mumbai batsman who scored a century here.
"Dinesh hasn't put a foot wrong in the last three games. He shows character, attitude, hunger, desire. He's already started thinking ahead about what the challenges are going to be in England," said Dravid.
Karthik also scored a ton as India set a world record of the top four batsmen scoring centuries, Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid were the others.
Dravid, however, said the conditions in England would be different.
"The series is going to be played a month later. You go from series to series. You say these were the conditions we were given. This was the opposition we were given. This is how we did. One month later, the conditions, opponents will be different," he said.
Dravid said left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh was a revelation.
"R.P. Singh was a revelation on this tour. The two of them (R.P. Singh and debutant Ishant Sharma) might not even have got an opportunity if not for injuries," he said.
"It enlarges our pool of fast bowlers and gives us an opportunity to try and keep most of them fit. In the season ahead we need all of them to be fit so that even if someone is injured the team is not affected that much."