'A freshness in the squad has helped' - Dravid

Rahul Dravid has attributed India's fantastic run in the current series against Sri Lanka to the excellent preparation before the games and the dash of freshness in the team. Dravid, who led India to their first home ODI series triumph since 2002, also added that this wasn't the time to get "too carried away" and admitted he was thoroughly "enjoying the environment".

"When you have a lot of performers in the team that makes a difference," Dravid said in an exclusive interview with Cricinfo. "You can't discount the fact that winning makes you look good. If we lose a few games everyone will be saying the same squad of boys doesn't look good. Different people performing when we needed has helped. It's early days yet. There's no point getting carried away yet. But what I'm really happy about is not that we've won, but that we're working really hard and we're preparing really well for every game. These wins will keep happening if you keep the preparation going."

He made no bones about the fact that after reaching the World Cup final in 2003, India had performed below par in ODIs. "To be honest with you we haven't been playing very good one-day cricket after the World Cup. Some of the teams have showed us up in one-day competitions in India, and abroad as well." But he felt that the addition of a few new faces had played a crucial role in getting back the winning habit. "I just think that many guys have played a lot better individually, taken up the responsibility and performed better in their roles," he continued. "There's been a bit of freshness in the squad which has definitely helped. Greg [Chappell] and Ian [Frazer] have come in and helped a lot in that direction."

Dravid's appointment as captain for two consecutive series was a precedent-breaking move, and, while he confirmed that he hadn't asked the board president for a long-run at the helm, he admitted that the decision had had its positive effects. "It was just nicer to get the job over a slightly extended period," he said. "I've never really thought that I am just a stand-in captain so I should do things differently from when I was actually captain. But having the job over a period of time does help - not just me but everyone in the squad - because you know you're going to be in charge for a while. That adds a bit of continuity. It helps in getting your message across."

He said that captaining the side by example was the only way he knew. "You have to lead by example," he went on. "That's the way I have tried to do my best of the team. As a captain, if you expect guys to work hard, always to their best, become better cricketers, then you have to show them that you are trying constantly to do that yourself and challenging yourself. I'm sure the guys pick up on that. I'm sure the guys see that you're not just saying things but actually practicing what you preach."

But he insisted that the success of the side owed more to the players than to either his captaincy or Chappell's coaching methods. "I think the success we have had has been down to guys in the team knuckling down and performing well," he said. "You have to realise that without a good squad of guys, without a performing team, there's not much a captain or coach can do. As captain, or coach, there are certain things you can do to make a team better, but there's a limit to that. The credit should go to the people who perform - you can have all the theories you want, all the field placings you want, but if someone does not put the ball in the right areas or do the job with the bat, nothing else matters."

He added that he was really enjoying batting on one-dayers - he has managed 178 runs from the first four games in the current series. "I've learned to accept success and failure equally," he said. "It's not just now. I have learned to deal with it and be on an even keel over the last five years. That has been a huge help to me as a cricketer and as a person. That comes from experience. I was dropped from the side for about a year in 1998, and I realised that one of the things I missed was the enjoyment of playing the game. Sure you enjoy the successes, but you also learn from the failures. And I guess it also taught me that life would not end if I was not picked to play for India."