'You have to play well to beat anyone' - Dravid

Rahul Dravid believes that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is just one of the flexible players in Team India © Getty Images

Rahul Dravid put day-to-day performances ahead of rankings when summing up India's success, and maintained that experimentation was all about flexibility. Graeme Smith, his opposite number, believes that South Africa face a challenge running into another side on the up, but denied that minimal preparation may hamper their chances. Both spoke to the press on the eve of the Hyderabad match.

On South Africa and their match-winners
They have a good team and it will be interesting to see how they fare in these conditions. Rather than focusing on individual players, we have to look at their whole team. And more importantly, focus on things which we want to do - focus on our processes, our strategies to counter what they throw at us.

On the No.3 slot which has seen a lot of experimentation
To be honest everyone's got this No.3 fancy. Dhoni played at four in the last game so it's not only at No.3 that we have changed things. In the first game, Yuvraj Singh batted ahead of me when I thought the situation demanded it. Yuvraj played at four in Pune and other places and everyone's got excited over this No.3. The whole thing about us is we are trying to be a bit flexible, trying to provide guys with new challenges irrespective of the numbers they are batting at. So we will just see what is best combination for the side tomorrow. We did not look to be flexible in the number three area; we are trying to be flexible all round, all through our batting order and even in the bowling department.

On whether rankings count in one-day cricket
They don't necessarily mean that, like we showed, number seven is inferior to number two. It is important what your performances are on that particular day irrespective what your number is. Yes, the rankings are a reflection of your performances in the last year, year and a half or two years. What the rankings reflect is that just because you are number two, you don't have a right to beat number three tomorrow. You have to play well to beat anyone. We have not done well for a while so that is why we are at the bottom of the table but if we keep doing well, we'll push our way up.

On what will he tell his team
More of the same actually. I would like them to look to grow as a team, grow as players and not worry about the results - only try and get better as a team and that is going to be one of our goals.

On the fact that the fifth bowler has not been tested in the series against Sri Lanka
They were tested in Jaipur. Then, they (Lanka) chased 280- odd to win at Ahmedabad. We just try and make the best use of the Supersub. It might not always work. The Supersub tends to get loaded in favour of the team winning the toss. We need to have a bit of luck with the Supersub to be honest.

On the new boy, Johan Botha
He's more attacking than most we're used to. He gets good turn and has variations. But there's no pressure on him. It's not make-or-break for him. By 2007, he'll be ready to win matches for us. Who knows, he might win us the game tomorrow, he's that sort of guy.

On how they will counter India's top-order batting
I think India are looking at a group of 20 or so. They have some explosive batsmen, but with the ball hard and new, we'll look to get at them early. We have some plans of our own.

On meeting another in-form side
India's always a challenge but the boys are mentally ready. In these conditions, you need a bit of luck. I think the toss will be very important. But we have to concentrate on our gameplan.

On the minimal preparation
These days, the schedules are that way. We go to Australia two days after we return from here. But we've made the best use of the three days we got here to prepare.