Dravid eyes 2002 form

Rahul Dravid

Captain Rahul Dravid hopes India can rediscover their batting form at the scene of their 2002 recovery.

Dravid’s team were skittled for 201 by England at Lord’s before clinging on for a draw at 282 for nine when the incessant rain began.

They also struggled with the bat on their previous tour but fought back at Trent Bridge, which hosts Friday’s second match of the npower series, to salvage an unhealthy position and went on to share the campaign 1-1.

“We would like more runs in the middle order,” said Dravid. “Our batting was the area in the last game which we know we can improve on. “We will need to do a lot better in the next two Test matches than we did at Lord’s.

“If you remember it was here in Nottingham that we turned it around last time, in the second innings, and went on to have a very good summer with the bat.

“It took us a bit of time then to get going, and it has been no different this time around. There is a lot of quality there, now it is a question of producing that quality in the middle.”

Dravid hit a rearguard hundred while Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly both contributed scores in the 90s in India’s last Test here, after England piled up a 260-run lead in the first innings.

All three are coming towards the end of their careers now and talk, albeit only mutterings, of the break-up of the great batsmen of their generation has begun on the sub-continent.

“When you are playing international sport you are being judged all the time,” said Dravid. “If people don’t keep performing you are going to hear this and you are going to have to listen to it.

“The only way to answer the criticism is to perform, if you don’t perform then people have to take their course.

“It is part and parcel of being an international sportsman, it is not something to fear or worry about, it’s just life.”

Ganguly, who was dropped for an extended spell last year, has more immediate worries, however as a stiff back has put his participation in doubt - Yuvraj Singh stands by.