From the moment Royal Challengers walked on to the field, all the focus was on skipper Rahul Dravid. Days after the team CEO Charu Sharma was unceremoniously sacked by team owner Vijay Mallya, questions were being raised about Dravid’s captaincy. And when Mallya vented out his anger publicly on Sunday in a television interview over Dravid’s selection of players in the team, the PCA Stadium at Mohali was abuzz with rumours of Dravid quitting captaincy.

But he not only kept a firm face after his team’s seventh loss in the IPL on Monday against Kings XI Punjab, but also the eager media persons at bay. “I do not want to speak publicly on the (Mallya) comments. Selection and performance are two different things and people have to perform so that the team is back on the track. Everybody expects players to perform well, but sometimes it doesn’t happen,” said an unfazed Dravid, adding, “I will speak about it at an appropriate time and at the appropriate forum.”

Despite the string of losses, Dravid hoped that the team would return to winning ways soon. “We have been trying different things but yet to figure out a winning combination. Misbah played well today and I guess we need our openers to click. We have tried Virat Kohli, Arun Kumar, Wasim Jaffer and Mark Boucher as openers and I guess the key to success in this tournament has been a good opening stand,” said Dravid.