RED-LETTER DAY: Rahul Dravid became the third Indian to join the 10,000-club.

Margao: Rahul Dravid on Wednesday showered accolades on Mahendra Singh Dhoni, saying that the wicketkeeper-batsman has become a mature cricketer and has learnt to adapt his game to the situation.

"He (Dhoni) has a mature head. He plays different cricket for different situations. If we need a quickfire innings he plays that and if we need a controlled innings he plays that," Dravid said after India registered a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the third one-dayer.

Dhoni scored a crucial unbeaten 67, and also stitched a match-winning stand of 133 runs with Dravid (66) that helped India recover from a precarious 94 for four.

Unlucky

Dravid was furious with himself for getting out with four runs required for victory, although he was run out in unfortunate manner, when he backed too far and Dhoni's shot ricocheted off bowler Malinga Bandara's hand on to the non-striker's stumps.

The captain said he wanted to stay till the end and did not want to repeat the mistake of last match when India, chasing a target of 258, slumped from 235 for five and were bowled out for 252.

"We did not want to lose another wicket at that stage. We know that it is not easy chasing on these wickets. We were totally determined to finish it off this time," he said.

Dravid also praised Zaheer Khan (five for 42) for his fiery bowling that spelt disaster for Sri Lanka.

"It was a great effort by the bowlers, specially Zaheer upfront. But 230 was a good effort by Sri Lanka."

Jayawardenespeak

Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said his side recovered from the bad start in the morning.

"It was a setback right at the start (Sri Lanka was 6 for three). Zaheer bowled very well. But we made a good recovery and came back strongly," he said.

"Rahul and Dhoni batted very well. At that time I could not attack more and they controlled the innings very well."

Man of the match, Zaheer Khan, said: "The rhythm in last few months has been good. I am happy to peak at the right time for the World Cup."

Asked about his comeback to the Indian team and the stint in county cricket, Zaheer said, "I did a lot of bowling there and that really helped."

Dravid's feat

Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid became the sixth batsman in the world and the third from India to touch the 10,000-run mark in one-day internationals during the third match against Sri Lanka.

Dravid, who needed 22 runs at the start of his 309th ODI, achieved the landmark with a single off Sanath Jayasuriya.

Dravid, however, played it down saying having developed into a versatile batsman in the shorter version of the game gave him more satisfaction than the personal milestone.

"Ten thousand runs is merely a number. I think one of the things that has given me satisfaction in my one-day career is that I have batted in different positions from one to seven and I have kept wickets.

"Ten thousand is nice but if you play 300-odd games you will get there," he said. — PTI

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