SL vs IND | Acknowledge and recognise every player's contribution after second ODI, advocates Rahul Dravid

SL vs IND | Acknowledge and recognise every player's contribution after second ODI, advocates Rahul Dravid

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Dravid talks after the win over Sri Lanka

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BCCI

Rahul Dravid has appreciated the Indian team's collective performance after they pulled off the second ODI against Sri Lanka from a losing position which helped them to win the ODI series. Dravid also called the fightback incredible and mentioned that it wouldn't matter had they lost the match.

Riding on Deepak Chahar's valiant 69* from 82 balls, India won the second ODI against Sri Lanka to complete the series win with an invincible 2-0 lead at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday. 

Suryakumar Yadav scored an important 53 runs after India saw an early collapse in the batting order with Krunal Pandya made 35 to keep moving the scoreboard but it was the 84-run partnership between Chahar and vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar that pulled the game from Sri Lanka despite losing seven wickets by the end of the 34th over. India's head coach Rahul Dravid (for the Sri Lanka tour) praised the team for its collective efforts while recognising every player's contribution to help the team win the match and stayed away from talking about any particular player's performance. 

“We had talked about that, we acknowledge and recognise every player’s contribution in this game. If you look at the whole game, there were some very good team performances," Dravid said in a video posted on BCCI.tv.

“It is not the right time to talk about individuals at this point, obviously there were some fantastic individual performances, especially towards the end. So many good performances in our bowling, batting, even at the start, fantastic team performances from all of you," Dravid added. 

At one stage, it was visible that Sri Lanka would convincingly win the game but some hard-hitting and great batting from India's lower order ensured the match was won by the Men in Blues. Dravid called the fight an incredible one and said nothing would have mattered if the results wouldn't have come in their favour. 

“Obviously we finished on the right side of the result, which is incredible and fantastic but even if we didn’t finish on the right side of the result, it is the fight all the way through was absolutely brilliant, so well done to all of you,” the former Indian skipper said. 

Earlier, Sri Lanka bowlers led by Wanindu Hasaranga picked some key wickets to mount the pressure on the Indian batting after five of the top-six batsmen returned back to the pavilion inside 20 overs. Hasaranga got the wickets of Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw, with new-ball bowler Kasun Rajitha got wicket-keeper Ishan Kishan's inside edge that crashed onto his stumps.

Manish Pandey was unfortunate to get run out at the non-striker's end and Hardik Pandya getting out on his second ball without adding to the scoreboard. It was the tailenders that responded in the uncircumstantial situation and Dravid termed that response as that of a champion team.

“We said they were going to respond, we knew we had to respect the opposition. The opposition was going to respond, they’re also an international team. They responded, and we responded back like a champion team," Dravid said.

“With our back to the wall, we found a way to break them. So really well done to all of you. Fantastic job," he added. 

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