For a team that has Rahul Dravid as their mentor, the spirit to fight until the very end is a quality that should not be hard to come by. Of the innumerable virtues that one can imbibe from India’s batting legend, tenacity and fearlessness against the biggest of gauntlets are among the top ones.

Rajasthan Royals seem to have inculcated that spirit to perfection from India’s most resolute warrior. In the face of their biggest challenge so far in Pepsi IPL 2015 – a perform-or-perish contest against the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders – the Royals stood tall and emerged victorious.

With their scintillating nine-run win at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, the Royals have made it to the Playoffs. As Shane Watson led the team to a victory with an inspiring century, the Royals’ mentor stood tall; a proud man.

In a chat with iplt20.com, Dravid spoke about RR’s determination to make it to the top-four after missing out in the 2014 season.

The Royals were in a similar situation last year where you needed to win your last league game to qualify. It didn’t happen then. But pleased to see the team has learned from that experience?

I am very happy that we could make it this time. It was something that was much needed, especially after what happened in the last season. We were disappointed last year but it is good that we learned from our mistakes. It is tough competition out here and not at all easy to make it to the top four. I am glad that we played some good cricket throughout this tournament.

Beating the defending champions to qualify for the Playoffs must feel extra special?

Oh, it does. It was a tight, tough game. Our spot was in line and to beat the defending champions to get there was simply amazing. Look at the firepower they have, look at the team they have. I am very proud of the boys with the way they responded.

Teams get disarrayed when there is a change at the helm mid-tournament. Did you have to ensure against that when Steve Smith replaced Shane Watson as captain midway?

We have a really good group of individuals. Watson and Smith are quality people besides being quality cricketers. It was a collective decision in which Watto (Watson) was an active part of. He realized that his role as a batsman and a bowler was a lot more important to us than as a captain. It was such a nice thing to see that we made the change and it allowed Watson to play freely. We saw the result today. Credit to him that he recognised it and showed the willingness to take that call.

And he saved it for the most important game of the season so far!

I hope this wasn’t the most important game of the season for us. I hope there is a lot more to come. We have not played our best cricket so far. There are a lot of areas where we can work on and improve and hopefully we will see that in the next few games.