Rahul Dravid lauded India’s bowlers for the effort they put in, defending a total that wasn’t too big. But the head coach also termed the Green Park wicket “unresponsive” after New Zealand’s last-wicket pair denied India a win in the first Test in Kanpur.

“We kind of knew that the light was going to dip as it has been happening here over the last few days. But the guys were pretty switched on and I believe we showed great

composure and fighting spirit to be able to work really hard in the final session on what was really quite an unresponsive pitch. Even then our guys took three wickets in the second session and five in the final one to really run the game close.

“With a little bit of luck, it could have gone our way, but kudos to the guys as they fought really hard today (Monday),” Dravid said at the post-match media conference.

The pitch lacked enough bounce and bite, and had no wear and tear as such, which the Indian team management had expected. “You expect a little bit more wear and tear in wickets in Indian conditions,” Dravid said.

“Over the course of the five days, this wicket didn’t seem to have that kind of bite. Generally, in Indian conditions, you can challenge both edges of the bat: outside as well as inside. But in this game, the outside edge was virtually ruled out and even on the final day, none of the edges carried (to the fielders).

“Usually on Day V, we should get a bit more help from the track, but maybe because it’s winter that it didn’t happen,” Dravid explained.

In spite of not sounding too happy with the pitch, the India head coach made a touching gesture of giving Rs 35,000 personally to the Green Park ground staff.

Declaration time

Dravid disagreed with the view that India should have declared their second innings earlier than when they did. “No, I don’t think so. That’s not my reading of the game because till half an hour before we declared, we were under pressure,” he stated.

“Obviously, Wriddhiman Saha showed great courage and character to battle his stiff neck, but had we lost our last three wickets quickly, it meant they would have to

be chasing 240-250 in approximately 110 overs at a required rate of 2.2 or 2.3 runs per over. Needing under three runs an over is not too big a task, so I thought we timed our declaration really well,” Dravid asserted.

Ashwin rises

Although his spells couldn’t guide India to victory, Ravichandran Ashwin managed to get past Harbhajan Singh’s tally of 417 wickets and occupy the third position on the list of India’s top wicket-takers in Test cricket.

Terming the off-spinner’s achievement as “phenomenal”, Dravid said: “He has just evolved and just kept growing. He’s one of those guys who keeps thinking about the game, keeps changing and keeps evolving.

“You don’t achieve what Ashwin has been able to without growing, improving and evolving.”