Dravid has a chance to make history

Rahul Dravid has a chance to get his name inscribed in golden letters in the annals of Indian cricket when his team take on England in the third and final test at the Oval on Thursday. If India win or manage to draw this Test, Dravid will become only the second Indian captain to have won 2 Test series abroad, in England and in the West Indies, if one counts out Zimbabwe. India are presently 1-0 up in the 3 Test-match series courtesy their emphatic victory at Trent Bridge a few days ago.

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vaughan

The team looks to have shaken off the Greg Chapell hangover and seems much more confident and relaxed.....

This is evident from the camaraderie in the dressing room which was seriously lacking in the Chapell era, most notably in the World Cup.The players are certainly going to need all the support they can get from their fellow players as one can be rest assured that Michael Vaughan's team are going to come, and come hard at them.Vaughan has been in this situation before and has managed to inspire his team to come back to win or draw a series and this time it is going to be no different.

A minor but important issue that will test Dravid as a captain and a leader would be the dropping of S.Sreesanth from the One-Day team. Though Dravid did clearly state that India would play an unchanged squad for the last Test, it would just be half the battle won. Sreesanth has been a proven match winner and has almost single handedly won India test matches in the West Indies and South Africa and dropping him is certainly not going to do his confidence any good. It will be a challenge for Dravid to get the best out of him and make him believe that one exclusion means nothing in the larger scheme of things.

This is also probably the last time the Big Four, namely Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman would be playing a Test match in England and a victorious send-off at the birthplace of the game would only be a fitting tribute to what they have done for Indian cricket.

If India manage to win the series it would be a more of a relief than a sense of victory for its fans who have often been betrayed by their underachieving stars. We certainly hope that Rahul Dravid can still show the way when the fire's still burning. The odds are on India's side and they just have to go out there and do it. And keeping with the production house's promotion strategy, lets say Chak De! India.

Image Source:Rahul Dravid,Michael Vaughan