Kolkata: Enjoying a golden run having scored five tons in less than six months, Rahul Dravid on Monday gave credit to chief coach Duncan Fletcher for his tips which has proved to be invaluable.
The 38-year-old who scored his 36th Test century wants to make most of his brilliant form.
“I worked with Duncan (Fletcher) a little bit. He has suggested a few things which are helping. He can read the game quite well. It’s good to have him around. He suggested a couple of things which are helping,” Rahul who is now the highest run-getter in Tests in 2011 said at the day end media conference.
Asked whether he has been doing something differently, Dravid said: “No… But the Jamaica century gave me confidence. I just carried on from there. I did not change my technique much.”
The 39-year-old wants to make best use of this good patch.
“It feels as if I am in some form. I am in a good patch. I’m in good space with my game and mentally as well. I am really trying to make it count and let it last as long as I can,” Dravid stated.
He sounded cautious about how things can just radically change from being good to worse as he has seen numerous ups and downs in his career.
“I had been through a tough time. But I feel good… Even in the nets, I feel quite relaxed. Just want to make it count till it lasts. Cricket it’s a funny game, you never know when the tough time is round the corner. But as long as you have a good time going, you got to keep it going.”
Asked whether he was targetting 40 Test centuries, Dravid said: “Not really. I never thought I would get to 36. So not putting a number to it. We will see it what happens. As I said it’s a good space to be in and I just want to keep this going.”
Dravid further said with the rapid fire start given by the opening duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, the job for the middle-order gets easier.
“Definitely it does help. It makes a big difference when you have openers like Viru and Gauti. They are terrific. It’s great to be a No. 3. More often than not they give us good starts. The way they play in such a rapid place, it makes it a lot easier for the middle-order.”
Another 21 runs would have taken him to the 13,000 Test runs which has only been scaled by Tendulkar but Dravid who is the second highest scorer in Tests said he never chased records.
“I don’t think too much about numbers, averages and statistics. Just try and focus on preparation. Get into the right frame of mind, every time I play. Sometime I succeed, sometimes I don’t.”
But he said he was disappointed for not having batted the whole day. (PTI)