Chittagong: Is Rahul Dravid talking tough? Did he send out any signal to Virender Sehwag on Monday?

You’ve got to read between the lines to make your judgement. It’s not that the Team India captain’s vote of confidence for Sehwag will change overnight but that the opener needs to get back among runs was spelt out in no uncertain terms.

“For someone of Sehwag’s calibre we truly believe that he should go all the way and play bigger innings,” said Dravid. “He is getting the starts and not carrying on. That is definitely something he should do. Sehwag knows that he must begin converting those starts into meaningful contributions for the team.”

On Saturday, Dravid had tried to defend Sehwag at the post match media conference, explaining that his early dismissal was a result of the team strategy of being aggressive up front.

Sehwag’s run of poor scores have continued for a year now. Since his 95 against the West Indies in Port of Spain in May 2006, his scores have been 9, 8, 1, 10, 9, 17, 65 (versus Australia), 0, 18, 11, 19, 12, 46, 2, 114 (versus Bermuda), 48, 30, 21.

Yuvraj Singh was also reminded of the need to take more responsibility.

“We are trying to get guys like Yuvraj, whom I always felt needs to bat up the order, take a lot more responsibility. We’re using this opportunity to give them more responsibility and hope they kick on and establish themselves in those positions. So we can have options in various conditions,” Dravid said.

The Team India captain indicated that he might bat up the order if need be. “It depends on the situation. Here I have been batting a little down the order. I can use my experience in those batting positions which are traditionally… slightly more difficult positions.

“If the wickets are seaming or doing a bit then it may be the case of me batting up the order. We will just have to wait and see what the situation is.