LEEDS, September 2: Captain Rahul Dravid is hoping the desire to finish this so-far successful tour on a high note will lift India in the remaining three games.
"We want to finish very strongly," he said, on the eve of the fifth One-dayer here. "We know we have our backs to the wall. But we have often played our best cricket in such situations only," he pointed out.
"The thing is we know the games were close.
If a few things had gone this way or that the scoreline could have been different," Dravid said. Going back to the three-wicket defeat at Old Trafford, he said: "It was disappointing but it hasn't really damage our morale. We have discussed the fact we need to maintain the energy levels right through until the end of the innings," he conceded. "Maybe towards the last 25-30 runs, disappointment crept in and the levels dipped a little."
Dravid made it clear Zaheer Khan, who twisted his ankle in the last match, will not play if he is not fit. "If he is not fit, he is not fit. We will play someone else. We obviously want our best players in a game like this, because we know we have to win the next couple just to stay alive in the series," he added.
He wasn't particularly worried about Sourav Ganguly's absence from the practice session on Saturday. "Sourav is unwell so he hasn't come for practice. But he is okay and should be fit for the game," he said.
England, however, couldn't say the same about Andrew Flintoff. "He has a little soreness in his ankle. We'll have to wait and see about him in the next four hours," said captain Paul Collingwood.
He revealed that Chris Tremlett would play if Flintoff fails the fitness test. "That might give the big lad Tremlett a chance to play. He took two good wickets in the middle of the innings at Edgbaston. And as it looks like a typical Headingley pitch and if the conditions become overcast, he will be useful," he said.