Rahul Dravid's Brilliant Response To Birthday Wishes Ahead Of 3rd Test vs South Africa

Legendary India cricketer Rahul Dravid gave a brilliant response to the tons of wishes he got on his birthday on Tuesday. Dravid, with a big smile on his face, said one is not sure how to react or feel on birthdays when growing older. "When you get older, you're not sure what to feel when you get wished on your birthday. But it feels nice. Did get a lot of wishes from friends and family," Dravid told former Zimbabwe cricketer and currently a broadcaster Pommie Mbangwa before the start of the third India vs South Africa Test match in Cape Town.

Wishes poured in from all quarters as the former India captain and current head coach turned 49. Dravid, a stalwart of the game, represented India in 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and one T20I, scoring over 24,000 international runs. Under his leadership, India also won a Test series in England in 2007 apart from achieving a number of consecutive victories while chasing in ODIs. 

India are eyeing a historic maiden Test series victory in South Africa and Dravid said "the energy" in the camp was really good ahead of the series decider in Cape Town, which began on Tuesday.

"At this level, you really don't need to motivate the players. Playing for India and the opportunity to make history here is a big thing in itself. We've performed well in the series, the energy is good in the camp. We managed to get 272/3 on the first day of the series, that's the kind of performances we expect when we get out to bat, obviously can't get that every time but it shows the quality we have. If we have runs on the board, I'm sure we'll be very competitive in this game," Dravid said.

Speaking about the last Test, in which India failed to defend 239 in the fourth innings, allowing the hosts to draw level in the series, Dravid said the pitch didn't assist as much as they expected it to but credit must be given to South Africa for the way they batted. 

"We got the score we would have liked in the fourth innings, we would have take a 240-250 score at the start of the Test. But the pitch probably didn't do that much, maybe it had to do with the height of our bowlers. Bowling with the wet ball also didn't help but credit to South Africa, they batted really well. Maybe some areas could have been better last game, could have scored a few more runs in the first innings perhaps and some of the shot selection could have been better in the second," he said.

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