NEW DELHI
Rahul Dravid, the last captain to lead India to a series win in England, says the current side faced unusually tough conditions in the recently concluded five-match rubber and the batsmen must prepare better before embarking on the next English tour.

“Let’s just be honest first. The conditions in England were not easy for batting. I think batsmen of both the teams struggled. If you take out Virat Kohli from the equation, it was not an easy series for the batsmen. I have played in England quite a bit, the conditions can be tough but it is rare to find five Test matches which had conditions as tough as the one they found,” Dravid said.
“The next time we go there, we have to be better prepared for these kind of conditions and try and replicate conditions as best as we possibly can,” said the Indian batting great.

Dravid, however, did not read much into Ravi Shastri’s ‘best team ever’ remark. “I think the whole thing was blown out of proportion. I am not really interested in commenting on what Shastri feels or he doesn’t feel. For me, the main thing is what have we learnt from this series? What are the lessons that we need to take forward next time we go there? It doesn’t matter whether we are the best or not. These are irrelevant things for me,” said the 45-year-old.