Agarkar instrumental in restricting SL: Dravid

Dravid also showered praise on Dhoni and Raina, who were involved in an unbeaten partnership of 82.

Fatherhood has been lucky for both Rahul Dravid and Ajit Agarkar. While Dravid has had an exceptional series in his new role as a captain, the latter helped India seal the series with a fivewicket haul that earned him the Man of the Match award.

HT Image

And both admitted on Thursday at the post-match conference that fatherhood had been lucky for them. "It has brought many sweet things to us," they said.

Giving Agarkar the credit of bowling well on a placid track, Dravid said, "he was instrumental in restricting Sri Lanka to 260."

Dravid also showered praise on Mahender Dhoni and Suresh Raina, who were involved in an unbeaten partnership of 82. "It was a fantastic partnership from two youngsters who are in their first year of international cricket. This shows the future of Indian cricket is very bright," he said. Dravid acknowledged everyone, including the support staff, for an emphatic series win. "I am happy for the whole squad," he said. "We have worked really hard over the last 10 days and it has yielded results. It's been a long time since we won a one-day series in India and it's nice to have won with three more matches to go."

Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody was disappointed with four consecutive losses. "It doesn't mean the end of the world for us," said Moody. "We will try and keep on improving in the next three games and hopefully win some of the games."

Moody said that they fell short by 15 to 20 runs in the end.