Thaindian News

London, Aug 22 (IANS) Rahul Dravid, India’s lone consistent performer in the ongoing Test series against England, has attributed his team’s dismal performance to a “rare” collective batting failure.

Dravid, who struck his third century of the series on the fourth day of the Oval Test to keep India in contention for a draw, said the batting has let the team down.

“It has been a tough tour. It has been a long time since we our batting has failed completely. Generally 2-3 guys succeed in every series, people have bad tours but this is rare that all batsmen have not played as a unit which is sad,” said Dravid, who scored an unbeaten 146 in India’s first innings total of 300.

“We have been found wanting against a better team and we need to look at the set of skills we have and how we need to get better at it.”

Besides the forgettable batting display, Dravid lauded England’s superior bowling in the series which has helped the hosts to take an unassailable 3-0 in the four-match series.

“There has been a combination of things (for team’s performance). Their bowling has been very good, they have shown a lot of discipline with the ball and has swung it at pace right throughout. The wickets have been conducive to swing bowling and we have not been on top of our game.”

England have bagged the home series and snatched the Number One ranking from the visitors but Dravid asserted that it won’t be easy for the Andrew Strauss men when they tour India.

“They were superior to us in home conditions. They come to India next year sometime and whatever the Indian team is, it would look to address and correct the mistakes committed in this series. Those will be our conditions and how the series goes will be England’s biggest challenge.

“It’s not easy for most sides when they play in India. Australia came and won. England need to come and do it. They have the skills and players but it still needs to be done. We will be looking forward to that challenge.”