India captain Rahul Dravid lauded a fine team effort as India claimed a seven-wicket win over England but singled out match-winning bowler Zaheer Khan for special praise.
India won the second test at Trent Bridge on the fifth morning to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Left-arm seamer Zaheer claimed his test best match figures of nine for 134 to subject England to a first home test loss in 13 months.
“Zaheer was the star of our bowling,” Dravid told reporters. “He showed what a leading bowler must do and what we expect. In conditions where he was asked to put up his hand he did that.
“He led, the other two boys (Rudra Pratap Singh and Sreesanth) are really young and on the first day, when we won a good toss, Zaheer stood up.
“Yesterday (Monday) afternoon when the game was in the balance, he took the game by the scruff of the neck and really delivered. That's what good fast bowlers do, that's what match-winners do and I think he was a match-winner for us in this game.”
Dravid said he was especially pleased by the team’s character after bouncing back from what would have been a defeat at Lord’s in the first test had rain not prevented England from claiming a 20th wicket.
Maybe one thing, though, that won’t have encouraged Dravid was the conduct of 24-year-old pace bowler Sreesanth, who was fined 50 percent of his match fee for needlessly shoulder barging England batsman Michael Vaughan on Monday.
He also bowled a beamer at Kevin Pietersen, which he claimed was unintentional, and a no-ball bouncer at Paul Collingwood, when he overstepped by several feet. Dravid suggested Zaheer will be a good role model for Sreesanth to learn from.
“He has a great example in Zaheer Khan and, if he needs to learn from anyone, he just needs look at what Zaheer's done in this Test match for us,” Dravid said.
“He has had controlled aggression. Zaheer has been as aggressive as anyone else without going over the top and just sticking to performing and getting wickets.
“Sree is a talented bowler, young and a bit excitable. He is going to learn along the way. It's part of our responsibility to ensure he learns.” Dravid said the no-ball would be dealt with internally.
Sreesanth’s no-ball certainly angered England and Vaughan spoke to Dravid about it. England, though, may have a hard time fishing for sympathy after their own jelly bean-throwing escapades. Dravid was not unhappy with the spirit between the teams.
“As captains we have a responsibility to ensure it doesn't get out of hand,” said Dravid. “I think it's been a bit blown out of proportion, I don't think it has got out of hand. “It's been close. We have a huge amount of respect for the England team and personally I have a lot of respect for Michael. I'm sure we'll be doing our best to play very tough cricket at The Oval, but trying to ensure it doesn't cross the line.”