London, July 23: Rahul Sharad Dravid has finally made it to the honour rolls at Lord’s 15 years after making his debut at the Meccca of cricket. After having missed out on a century way back in 1996, he remained unbeaten on 103 today; his crucial innings helping the floundering India avoid a follow on. Considered one of the most technically sound batsmen ever, the former Indian skipper became the second highest run-getter in Test cricket on Day 3 of the first Test against England.

In a post-match media interaction, Dravid spoke to his ex-teammate Sourav Ganguly about his journey so far and what it means to be playing for 15 long years.

Excerpts:

On the experts’ comments regarding his batting being about class and not age

I don’t know really [laughs], it’s about the runs really, isn’t it? At the end of the day you’ve got to score the runs, you’ve got to make a contribution. That was important today, it was tough out there, it was hard work; [we] just needed someone to bat through and get us through that follow on so that we didn’t have to bat again and have a chance to fight back later on tomorrow and day after.

On scoring runs in England where he has a very good record

I love playing in England, I love this tour, it’s one of my favourite tours, not only because [of] the runs I score, I love the city, I love London. I think there is so much to do, I have friends here. I just love the fact that you come to a Test match and every day the Test match is full, people appreciate the Test match, they clap for your fours. They clap for any good feat that anyone does irrespective whether it’s the opposition [or] whether it’s the home team. It’s great. When you play a sport you want to play in front of full houses, for people who know the game, and for whom it means something. And I find in England, among other places, that exists, so that’s always a lovely tour to do.

On whether he felt happy to have finally gotten to the hundred at Lord’s

Yea, I think so. In some ways when you come here for the first time you are so [keen] you don’t understand the significance of these things. When I came here the first time it was great to watch you [Sourav Ganguly] get a hundred, and after that when you get that close and you miss out, then every time you come here you think, ‘I would like to correct that’. It’s not [the] end of the world if it doesn’t happen, that’s life, but it would be nice. And just to be able to do it today, especially when the team needed it, the kind of [or] the consequence of the innings makes it feel good.

On what was going through his mind when he was in the 90s given that even the last time he was at that score here, he was batting with the tail

It did cross my mind a little bit. You [are] sort of not sure what to do sometimes, but luckily for me, the target [was there]. I wasn’t so much thinking at that stage about the hundred, I was thinking about 274 [runs]; I was keen on getting to 274 [runs] [required to avoid the follow on]. I discussed it with Praveen [Kumar] and figured that he would be better off playing a few shots and if he connected [with] them, [that] would be good. [They were] a crucial 15-17 runs that he scored. In some ways it took my mind away from the hundred because I was thinking about 274 all the time. It was only after we got to 275 [runs] that I thought [I] was actually five or six runs away and maybe this will be nice to do. So initially I guess it helped in some ways that we needed a few runs to get to that [score to avoid a] follow on and that pressure was on as well.

On whether getting centuries here and at Jamaica proves he’s in as good touch as ever

I am not trying to prove anything to anybody. This hundred and celebration and stuff is more a relief from the fact [that] I missed out 15 years ago. To come back on my fourth tour and be able to do that, the consequence of the innings [meant a lot]. It’s not about proving anything at this stage, [it’s] really [about] trying to make [a] contribution to the side. That’s what you play for; you play not really for the runs and centuries any more but just for those contributions. I will remember this just for the contribution I have made, surely, when I retire.

On being as good as he was before

[To score centuries] does help. [With] the tough conditions, even in Jamaica, we needed to make a play in the second innings there. It was great to win a Test match in Jamaica. I would love for us to, if not win this Test match, at least draw it. That would be great but definitely, when you get hundreds in difficult conditions, and when you get hundreds against some good quality attacks, it does give you a bit of confidence and it does give you that belief that ‘Yeah, I am still playing quite well and I am not losing the touch too much.’ But you have to keep doing this again and again; this is just the first innings of the tour, there are seven more innings to go and from my point of view, [I’ll] try and use this form and try and have a big tour.

On having scored 33 hundreds

It’s nice, 33 is a lot of hundreds but I have played a long time as well. I have been around for 15 years, I have played 150-odd Test matches. So if you play that many Test matches, then you’re probably going to get a lot of runs and you are going to score a lot of centuries. So it’s not so much about the numbers but I guess [it is] the longevity. The fact that I have been around now for 15 years and am still making a contribution and I’m still making a play - I think it is really about that. There are a lot of guys [who] are much better players than me [but] didn’t have the opportunity in the earlier years to play as many Test matches as I did. So you can’t look at numbers, to be honest.