Dhoni full of Dravid

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni takes questions from the media during the team's official press conference at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel yesterday.Photo: STAR

The biggest news surrounding the Indian team was the retirement of legendary batsman Rahul Dravid even as the team touched down in Dhaka for the Asia Cup yesterday. The defending Asia Cup champions and also world champions have not had the best of times recently, losing 4-0 in the Test series in Australia earlier this year, while failing to reach the just-concluded CB Series final, a tournament that also involved Australia and Sri Lanka, who will be India's first Asia Cup opponents on March 13.
But it was Dravid who was foremost on the agenda when India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni took his seat during the official Asia Cup press conference at a city hotel.
“I think Jam [Rahul Dravid] was a great character to have in the dressing room. He had a great career, he is someone who will definitely be missed, an ideal role model and good ambassador for the sport,” said Dhoni when asked how India will fill the gaping hole that Dravid has left in the Test side. “So definitely we will miss him, when it comes to the kind of talent and what he brought to the team. Guys like him or cricketers like him, it's not even advisable to think they will be replaced by some other youngsters because the youngsters will be under tremendous pressure if they start to think like that.”
Dhoni thought that new players needed to come in and make the spot their own rather than thinking about who they are replacing.
“Every individual is special; he brings in a special character to the side,” opined the India captain. “Somebody will start a career and maybe in ten or twelve years' time you will have a cricketer who will be very successful, but to say whether they will replace a talent like Rahul Dravid is difficult. So we are hoping that it's an opportunity for some of the youngsters to take it as a challenge and start doing well.”
On the Asia Cup, Dhoni thought that starting well was very important especially in a tournament that spans just eleven days with each team playing three matches before the final.
“It is a very short series, and it is very important to start with a positive note because its not very often that you play in a tournament where all the Asian countries are playing together, so I think it's a good one over here. Hopefully the team that plays the best cricket will win the tournament,” Dhoni said.
India will be without swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag, who hit a big hundred the last time India played in Dhaka, against Bangladesh in the 2011 World Cup opener.
“We will miss him, he is one of the most dangerous openers and at the same time we can't do much because he is not available,” said the Indian skipper. “I think it's an opportunity for someone like a Yusuf Pathan or a Ravindra Jadeja to do well and grab that number six position and we're hoping that one of them will do that.”