Monday, July 3 2006 15:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kingston (Jamaica): Indian skipper Rahul Dravid fully deserved his man-of-the-match and man-of-the-series awards. The two knocks he played in the final Test at Sabina Park, 81 in the first innings and 68 in the second, were instrumental in India winning the Test and thus the series.

They were the products of a master craftsman at the peak of his prowess. They came at a time when the team needed it most. They came at a time when all other batsmen, in either side, floundered.

They were good enough to draw the highest praise from Test cricket's biggest run accumulator, Brian Lara, Dravid's opposite number.

"I told Dravid after his innings that I haven't seen such an innings, or two such innings, put together on such a surface," Lara said.

"He was tremendous. His batting throughout the series was outstanding. He led by example," he said.

Dravid himself was pleased with his effort, and even his modest exterior could not completely conceal it when he spoke to journalists.

"These couple of innings are among the best I've played in my career. It was a tough wicket to play on. I needed a lot of luck also," he said.

Dravid explained his technique.

"The idea is to get fully forward or fully back, play as late as possible and use soft hands. The key is to trust yourself, trust your defence," he said.



The joy these knocks would have given him was no doubt mingled with the delight of being the first captain since Ajit Wadekar in 1971 to win a series in the West Indies.



It was something he wanted to be shared. "I'm very happy, especially for the team," he said.



"For all the hard work they've put in, for the coaching and support staff, everybody has contributed to it. This team can be proud of its achievement," he said.

"Everyone has chipped in in this series. There was (Wasim) Jaffer in Antigua, Laxman saved us in Antigua and Sehwag almost won us a match in St Lucia," he said.

He had praise for the bowlers, too, the inexperienced medium-pace attack comprising S. Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, V.R.V. Singh and Irfan Pathan, and the experienced spin duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

But he warned against complacency.

"We can improve," he said.

"There are a lot of areas we need to improve," he said.

Dravid felt the win was very good for Indian cricket.

"There is a lot of negativism and pessimism around. So this win is good for the team. The boys get criticised, some of it justified, some not, so this is a reward for the effort the players have put in. It's good to see the happy faces in the dressing room," he said.

And how would the team be celebrating this win?

"We suddenly got two days off, maybe sleep in a bit, spend some time together," Dravid replied.

"I think we'll find out from the manager," he said.