It was important to give Sreesanth some rest: Rahul Dravid

JAIPUR: S Sreesanth's absence from the Rajasthan Royals squad on Wednesday led to quite a few raised eyebrows. There was speculation that the Royals team management might have dropped the Kerala pacer to avoid him getting into a confrontation with Mumbai Indians' Harbhajan Singh.

During the post-match media conference, though, Royals captain Rahul Dravid insisted that Sreesanth was rested, keeping in mind the workload of the players.

Sreesanth reopened the 'Slapgate' episode last week, accusing spinner Harbhajan of backstabbing him and claiming that the infamous incident from the first edition of the Twenty20 league (2008) was stage-managed. The two players were scheduled to face each other for the first time on the field after the sensational claims by Sreesanth.

"No, there was no Bhajji factor behind Sreesanth's omission," Dravid said, adding that it was important to give Sreesanth some rest.

"He (Sreesanth) has played four matches and has performed well continuously. This is still early days in the tournament and we want him to stay fit throughout. It's important to manage players well... you can't expect Sreesanth to play in all the games," Dravid said.

Talking about the game itself, which saw Royals demolish the fancied MI, the skipper said he was happy with the way his team performed.

For the first time in the history of this T20 league, Dravid, Tendulkar and Ponting played together on the same day. "Yeah, none of us troubled the scorers too much. Maybe, that will happen some other day," Dravid joked.