Dhoni lauds Dravid, Praveen following Kingston win

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni praised Rahul Dravid and Praveen Kumar for their significant contribution in India's 63-run win over West Indies in the first Test in Kingston on Thursday.

While man-of-the-match Dravid scored 112 in the second innings, Praveen had a match-haul of six for 80.

"Dravid has been an exceptional batsman. That he played over 250 deliveries showed he was very patient. He made the bowlers pitch in his areas and was brilliant," Dhoni said.

But he had special mention for Praveen who proved one and all the he can be a handful in longer version too.

"Praveen is a very skillful bowler and can swing the ball either way. He doesn't have the pace but he can confuse the batsmen with his movement. The batsmen are circumspect as to whether they should play or leave the deliveries," Dhoni explained.

"He (Praveen) showed great character after having been stopped from bowling in the first innings. When you are switching from 10-over format to 20-25 overs in an innings, you have to be careful. Importantly, he backed his strength and picked up wickets in the second innings as well."

The skipper seemed satisfied with the effort of the lower-order batsmen like Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra whose contributions made a lot of difference to the final outcome of the match.

"Our lower-order batsmen for the past year and a half have been contributing well. We were 85 for 6 in the first innings before Harbhajan along with Suresh Raina, bailed us out. In the second innings, Mishra made a telling contribution," he said.

Dhoni didn't forget to mention the face-saving Raina-Harbhajan partnership.

"But for that stand (Raina and Harbhajan), we could have been all out for 150. We were able to get more runs and thus gather a handy lead. Then in the second innings, we could stretch the lead to 300 plus."

The skipper said that they were confident of defending 325 as it would have been tough score to chase on a tricky wicket.

"300 was always going to be a difficult score to chase in the fourth innings. They were off to a flyer but wickets always slow down the momentum and we were able to apply pressure on their middle order.

"In the first innings, both sides bowled tight and there were not many deliveries to cut. In the second innings, both the sides were lenient."

Dhoni felt that wicket being a difficult one to bat on, it would have always been advantage for bowlers.

"It was a slightly different wicket. Unless you bowled really bad, it was difficult to score."

About the two other Test debutants Abhinav Mukund and Virat Kohli, Dhoni felt that more they played, the better they would adapt to the rigours of Test cricket.

Dhoni also didn't want to read too much into the talks of Kohli being suspect against short-ball.

"The short ball talk has been on for some time. In international cricket, you have to consistently face it. You need to adapt, you may not be the best player of fast bowling but if you can negotiate it, even if you don't look elegant, it's fair enough," he explained.

The skipper also backed young Mukund terming him as one for the future.

"It's important to have a pool of openers. It's important they are given exposure in India A sides for you come to play against teams which has players who one day would represent their respective national sides."

Man of the match Dravid feels that in terms of quality the middle order of the Caribbeans didn't have much difference with their Indian counterparts.

"I will not make the mistake by saying that this opposition is not good enough. Every batsman can score runs. Their first seven batsmen have the talent which equally matches the one of current Indian team," Dravid said.

Dhoni also praised young leggie Devendra Bishoo who got seven wickets in this match.

"Bishoo kept bowling in the right areas. There was a fair degree of turn in the first innings but as the game progressed, that turn was not there. Indian spinners on the othe rhand found it a bit difficult because of the strong breeze across the field."