Johannesburg, Sept. 21: The Indians may have crashed to a thumping 103-run hammering at the hands of the New Zealanders at Potchefstroom near here on Sunday, but senior batsman Rahul Dravid — who scored 37, said too much should not be read from the outcome.

"We shouldn’t read too much into it. We will be all right once the main tournament begins. This was a dry surface and it turned straightaway. The spinners bowled 30 overs and that does not happen often in conditions here in South Africa," Dravid told reporters after the game.

"The conditions in Johannesburg and Centurion will be different."

The elegant right-hander himself looked in great nick, driving fluently and hooking with venom. More importantly, he found the gaps with regularity in the course of a 58-run opening stand with Dinesh Karthik. Dravid’s 37 came off 34 deliveries and he hit six boundaries — including four in a single Shane Bond over.

Dravid first hooked, and then drove Bond in fine style through the covers, dabbed third delivery to the third man fence and rounded off the watch-dial display with a trademark glance that eased to the fine leg fence.

He was disappointed though, at not having made more of the opportunity. "It was the kind of wicket where if you get in, you need to make it count. I couldn’t do that but I feel good about my form."

Dravid’s dismissal though was the signal for a slide in the fortunes of the Indians and only Suresh Raina was able to stem the rot with an entertaining 31 that contained a massive six off Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori over long-on but was run out at just the wrong time.

From there, it was a matter of time before the Indians’ challenge folded up.

The Indians had rested Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra but the middle order in its essence contained much of the personnel who will do duty when the curtain goes up on their campaign in five days time, against Pakistan at Centurion.

Yurvraj Singh, skipper M.S. Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan all failed to bother the scorers unduly, and there is as yet no word of whether or not Gautam Gambhir will walk out to partner Tendulkar in the tournament proper, though he did spent close to an hour at nets at "Potch" on Monday.

The bowling too remains an area of concern and it was only when Pathan and Amit Mishra bowled during the Kiwi innings that there was a measure of control over the run-riot.

All three pacemen on view were brutalised by Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill and Neil Broom and R.P. Singh, who had a tidy opening spell, was thrashed for 25 runs — that included three sixes and a four — by Broom.

On Monday, the Indians had a four-hour practice session where — given the events of the night before — great attention was paid to batting with the key men getting a long net.

Gambhir showed no great signs of discomfort during his long dig, almost as long as Tendulkar, Dhoni and Dravid spent at the practice crease.