Rahul Dravid had to prove a point and today the opportunity presented itself at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo. Dravid walked into the middle with India struggling to force the pace at 91/2 in the 26th over. He played an innings of character, pacing his knock wonderfully to guide India past the target with just four balls to spare. Dravid's blazing effort with the bat yielded 72 runs off just 64 balls, making him our 'Top Performer' of the match.

Dravid has always been dogged by an image of being a defensive player, his much famed obsession for perfection, playing a major role in creating such an impression. He has never been the explosive batsman who tore bowling attacks into submission. Not too often do we get to see Dravid score at a strike rate of run a ball. Today the situation was different, it demanded desperate measures and he smashed seven classy boundaries in his unbeaten innings.

India chasing a target of 235 runs to win in 50 overs got off to a poor start losing their star batsman Sachin Tendulkar (9). Sourav Ganguly and Dinesh Mongia (37) struggled to find gaps in the field as Bryan Strang and co. put a tight leash on the scoring. Ganguly was back amongst runs but not in the best of touch and the Indian vice-captain took the responsibility of stepping up the run rate by some free flowing drives and good running between the wickets.

Dravid never lost his focus, as he kept playing positive, taking 33 singles in his innings today, suggesting that he was finding the gaps to perfection. The rotation of the strike helped Ganguly to get his feet moving, as he stepped out of the crease to loft a huge six. The highlight of Dravid's batting was the sweetly timed on-drive he played off the bowling of Whittall. He played one more gem of an on-drive off Travis Friend in the 35th over and followed it up with a perfect pull stroke to take control.

Dravid and Ganguly (85) put together 93 runs in 14.2 overs to take India closer to the target. Grant Flower threw a spanner into the Indian innings by claiming four wickets in the space of 19 balls. Agarkar for once came good with the bat scoring an unbeaten 13 and helping Dravid add 27 runs for the seventh wicket. The victory came about when Dravid spanked Mutendera through covers for a four and sealed a second consecutive ODI victory over Zimbabwe. Dravid rightly took the honours and was named Man of the Match.