London, Aug 21: It was literally a case of continuing from where he left off for Rahul Dravid on Day 4 at The Oval. After a magnificent 146 not out in the first innings, Dravid came out to open the second innings as England imposed the follow-on after India lost their entire side for 300 runs. Dravid’s was the first Indian wicket to fall in the 13th over of the second innings, given out caught by third umpire Steve Davis amidst high drama; TV replays had appeared to be inconclusive about the batsman nicking the ball.

India’s hero of the series, Rahul Dravid became the third Indian cricketer, after Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag, to carry his bat through an innings. In the process, he scored his 35th century and surpassed Gavaskar’s tally of 34 tons. He also became the only batsman after the legendary Sir Don Bradman to have scored three centuries in England twice.

Even as batsmen fell around him, ‘The Wall’ of Indian cricket stood strong in the face of a fearsome combination of pace and spin bowling by England.

Dravid, who had been on the ground since the start of the match (fielding and then batting), spoke to the media at the end of day’s play. Excerpts:

On whether he had nicked the ball

I got a bit of a feather on it, I think.

On whether he was certain he had nicked it when the England team asked for the review

My gut instinct was right on the last occasion when I didn’t take the review and [the last time] it was my shoelace. In the second innings I was given out [earlier in the innings] and I took the review and here my gut instinct told me that there was a slight feather on it and yeah, maybe there was something on it.

On surpassing Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of centuries with his 35th hundred

It’s a nice feeling in terms of numbers. I never compare myself to Mr. Gavaskar, I think he is an absolute legend of the game. For him to play without the helmet and play in the era that he did against the West Indies and score the kind of runs that he did [is unparalleled]. So no, I never compare myself to him. You pick any sort of World XI, his name will always come up for discussion. For me it was great. Like I was saying, when I was a young kid growing up, I was always a Gavaskar or [G] Vishwanath in all my backyard games with my brothers and that’s what I wanted to be. So for me to be able to play cricket for India like he did, and do some of the things that my heroes did, is a nice feeling.

On carrying his bat through the innings and scoring three hundreds in the series

Mixed feelings, I admit; the series hasn’t gone well as a team. It has been very satisfying for me personally, I have really enjoyed contests, the battle in the middle and I thought I have played as well as I possibly could have in a lot of situations. It has been very disappointing from the point of view of the results for the team and [for] someone who has seen lot of success with this team, it’s been a bit of a disappointing tour.

On whether the unsettled batting order has been one of the reasons for failures

As professional cricketers you cannot use that as an excuse. Whether you bat [at] No. 1 or 3 or 5, it does help if you are in your fixed position, but these are sometimes situations you cannot help; you have got to be professional about it. The ball is still a ball, [there are] still eleven fielders and you just have to get on with it, to be honest, and try and not use it as an excuse.

On the possibility of Sachin Tendulkar playing a big innings on Day 5

I think he’s looking good. He’s looked really good right through the series and a lot of innings he’s looked the part, [but it] just hasn’t worked for him. He was a bit unlucky in Edgbaston so maybe tomorrow’s the day, if some of the guys can bat around him. Once the ball gets a bit older, it doesn’t spin that sharply; so if we can see through maybe the first hour or so tomorrow, then hopefully their bowlers will get a bit tired and Sachin has a big day and some of the guys back him [and] support him; then who knows, we could really give a good fight in this Test match