We need to show some fight: Dravid

India need to bat out a day and a half to avoid yet another defeat, their sixth consecutive, in tests overseas.

It was yet another day where an entire team turned spectators and decided to let the Aussies take full control over the game. India is under the peril of losing this game, their sixth consecutive away test, with rain, possibly the only savior, as the tourists have a day and a half to bat out to outscore Australia’s lead, in two innings that is, and then go further to put up a score that the hosts cannot surpass in the remainder of the day.

“It is disappointing,” Rahul Dravid said as he tried to articulate the team’s collective grieve. “Obviously we didn’t play well in England. We thought definitely we would play much better here. Things haven’t worked here, but still time to go. It is disappointing and we are not happy about it.”

Following the drubbing India were subjected to in England, India’s flaccid performance threatens to encroach into them wherever they tour overseas. India’s batting order, something that has allowed them to journey to the top, seems to have become more a liability than a strength. Barring Dravid and Tendulkar to some extent, the rest of the batting unit has collapsed more than they have stayed, in their last three away series.

“They have bowled well,” he said. “No point saying they have bowled well. We have got look at ourselves and do something about it. They haven’t given us loose balls. Even today, even though we were playing solidly, they didn’t give us too many loose balls. They have bowled well, they are a good attack, but I believe we should play better as well.“

As he normally does with his batting, Dravid believed in tiring the bowlers out.

“The key for us is to keep them on the field for a long period of time,” Dravid said when asked about the possibility of saving this match.

“If we can keep their bowlers and fielders on the field for more than 100 overs, then we can put them under pressure and see some of their bowlers wilt. Sadly, in the three innings we have played so far, we haven’t been able to do that. They kept us on the field for a long time today. We need to try and do that. They are coming in hard, running in hard. After drinks, the last 15 overs they came in really hard. Hopefully, if we are batting after tea tomorrow, that’s where their real challenge is. If we can hang in there, play out time, and have them on the field for a long time…”

In England, India embarrassingly played an underprepared, unfit squad that was up against the home side which was willing to do anything to strip their opponents bare naked and get to the top of the table. What is even startling here is that India have fielded the best eleven possible, a testament of the fact that form and fitness are two different things and should not be confused with each other.

“In the sense, okay in England, we were not always with our best attack. Due to injuries and various other reasons, our bowling attack in England wasn’t the best possible attack,” he said. “Here we had the best bowling attack we can possibly hope for. Obviously disappointed. Once partnerships develop, and runs go, we need to pull it back and try to control the runs. Having said that it’s not easy. Even if we don’t take wickets, we have to stop the run flow.“

Dravid, whose impregnable defence has been breached thrice (in fact four times considering the no-ball in the first innings of the first test), was quite happy with his touch and just felt the need to translate that into runs.

“To be fair, there have been a couple of pretty good balls,” he said. “It’s not like I have got out, you know, inner-edging. A couple of good balls, a couple of things I could have done differently. I feel I have been batting well, but I am just getting out. Hopefully in the next couple of Tests, I will be able to convert one of these starts. I got 60 in the first game, I thought I was batting well in the second innings, till I got a pretty good one.”

Dravid wants to see some fight from the rest of the batting unit tomorrow as saving the test, for him, is still ‘some distance away’.

“I don’t think we can think about saving this game right now,” he said. “We need to go out there and show some fight. And bat as long as we can. Who knows what can happen? We have got quality batsmen who can bat long periods. It’s hard to think about two days from now right away. I am sure the guys will go out and fight and do the best they can. And we will take from there.”