Dada: We got rid of Dravid at right time

By OUR CORRESPONDENT

Kolkata, May 9: They were both teetering on the lakshmanrekha before Thursday’s game. The Knight Riders’ victory meant Sourav Ganguly found a lifeline, while Rahul Dravid sank deeper into the mire.

During his long career, Ganguly had gone through agonising phases many times. He can understand what his long-time mate Jammy is going through at the moment. Maybe that was the reason why he put his arm around Dravid after the match and kept his celebrations a little guarded.

"Rahul is one of the greatest players India has ever produced. A well-set Dravid could have taken the game away from us. Thankfully we got rid of him early," Ganguly said while rubbishing the thoughts that he had personally scored over the Royal Challengers captain by castling him.

"That wicket tilted the balance in our favour. But I don’t think I had a personal score to settle with Rahul. Twenty20 is a funny game. His wicket was needed that time and I am happy I provided with that breakthrough."

As a bowler Ganguly was instrumental in Knight Riders’s win with a figure of 1/7 in three overs.

Dravid too admitted as much. "His (Sourav’s) bowling in the middle overs was highly effective as he bowled wicket to wicket and made scoring extremely difficult," he said.

Dravid tried to find positives even after the defeat which has all but ended his team’s chances. "It has become all the more difficult for us. Still we’ve got to remain positive and try to turn the tide."