'We Responded Back Like A Champion Team' - Rahul Dravid Gives A Speech In The Dressing Room After India's Win In 2nd ODI vs Sri Lanka

Rahul Dravid, head coach of Team India on the current Sri Lanka tour, was in all praise for the players after victory in the second ODI, which helped India take an unassailable series lead in Colombo.

After a 7-wicket thumping win in the first ODI, India were made to work harder in the second. Sri Lanka put an improved performance on Tuesday, especially with the ball. However, India’s batting depth – with Man of the Match Deepak Chahar at number 8 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar at 9 – proved a bit too much for the hosts as they chased down the target with 5 balls to spare.

Chahar, who picked 2 wickets in the match and scored 69 runs, held his nerves and staged an 84-run eighth-wicket stand with Kumar after the visitors were left reeling at 193-7.

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It’s the fight that was absolutely important: Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid hailed this fight from the middle-order and lower middle-order batters as “absolutely important”. After losing the top three – which had done the bulk of the scoring in the first ODI – Manish Pandey (37), Suryakumar Yadav (53), and Krunal Pandya (35), not only scored runs but at a quick rate. This alacrity by the batters gave Chahar and Bhuvneshwar the time to settle in.

In the bowling department, Chahar and Bhuvneshwar shared 5 wickets between them, while leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal snapped three of his own.

“We obviously finished on the right side of the result… It was fantastic. Even if we did not finish on the right side, it’s the fight that was absolutely important. Well done to all of you,” Dravid said in a video shared by the BCCI on its Twitter handle.

“It’s not the time to talk about individual performances. We will talk about that in our meetings, when we analyse everything. But when you look at the whole game, it was a really good team performance. There were so many performances right across in our bowling, batting even at the start obviously the batters in the end finished it off. It was a fantastic team performance.”

Rahul Dravid is proud of the fightback of the Indian players – in both batting and bowling departments after the opposition had gained the upper hand.

“We said that they were going to respond. We have to respect the opposition. They responded and we responded back like a champion team. With our backs to the wall, we found a way to win. Proud of all of you, very well done,” he added.

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Also Read: Mickey Arthur Reveals What Went On Between Him And Dasun Shanaka Post The Sri Lanka vs India 2nd ODI