Showing posts with label Idols. Show all posts

That is the title of the autobiography of my favourite cricketer of this age- Rahul Dravid. Readership seems to have increased over the past few posts and I am sure that by the end of this post, I will end up angering most of you who worship the one and only GOD of Indian Cricket- His Majesty Sachin Tendulkar.

Dravid stepped down as the captain of the 'Men in Blue' a few days ago. After what most cricket experts would have termed as a 'safe, non- aggressive' stint. The period under Greg Chappel was even attributed as one in which he had absolutely no control over the team. Also he also lead India to it's worst performace in the world cup for a long long time - one which was supposed to be the swansong of the mighty trinity.Of course, there were a few lucky moments which included test series victories in West Indies, England and a maiden test victory in South Africa.

To me the highpoint Dravid's captaincy will be the declaration of the Indian 2nd innings at Lahore ( I think ) against Pakistan leaving His Majesty 5 runs short of a magnificient double ton. And this was when he became a stand-in captain. That was the best sign of intent any captain could show - the team always comes first, no individual however high or low gets a preference. Dravid was always the team player, both as a captain as well as a member . He did everything demanded from him - keeping wickets , open the innings, bat as low as No:6 or 7. Each demand opened up a new dimension to his batting and also delivered a treat to the eyes of fans. There were no complaints, no requests for the captain to change the team's plans or press conferences called. India defeating Australia at Adelaide -a 233 in the first innings, Dravid deservingly came back to score the winning runs - a glorious cover drive ( show innumerable times on espn star ) and some 50 odd runs in the 2nd innings. And lest we forget THE Kolkata test match, the famous victory scripted by Laxman's magnificient innings and the once efficent turbanators doosras, but there too Dravid had a small contribution in changing the script of the match.The number of innings he has played on foreign soil that changed the course of the match are just too many to list. He has always been the man who does all the work, but gets close to no praise, is always criticised for a failure in a single innings. But Sachin can always be depended upon to come back from his failures and rescue the team ( for Dravid has a human elbow, but he has a tennis elbow :P ). Lest I forget to point out he played in some 96 that the indian national team played without being dropped/rested or fitness troubles since his test debut. Nobody else on the international circuit holds such a record.He has scored five double centuries with each one being bigger than the previous one.

As far as captaincy goes, Dravid has always been compared with the most successful captain in Indian cricket- the prince of calcutta . But it was very obvious that both captains had completely different styles - while one wore his heart on his sleeve, the other always had the same calm face. Dravid never displayed aggression enough to satisfy the pundits, he seemed to be silent always. But the team that he took over consisted of a few seniors who doubted themselves, got frequently injured , youngsters who had had lived upto expectations cemented their place in the team and a new bunch of bowlers for every test match.Under Ganguly's captaincy he scored nearly 23% of the total runs put up by India (with a batting average of 102.84) in the 21 Test matches won. This is the highest percentage contribution by any batsman in Test cricket history in matches won under a single captain where the captain has won more than 20 Tests. But he could not repeat the same in his captaincy nor could anybody in the team help their captain in troubled times.

Now, I shall dwell on a topic which I will forever argue with my best friends. Many of them would have already heard me saying everytyhing below at various points of time. Remember the day after the declaration the front page of The Hindu had Sachin complaining about the decision . Another instance - Sachin being forced to play at No 4, after repeated failures , he just went public that he was 'unhappy' with the team management for not giving him his favourite position. The team could fail but not him ! The 2003 world cup - Sachin was indeed the man of the tournament playing brilliantly in every match , but the so called battle of the world cup - Brett Lee Vs Sachin Tendulkar just never happened because he was out in the 4th ball of the innings when the team required a massive contribution from him to even stand a chance of chasing 358. I have no memories of how much Dravid scored or how he got out, but plainly Sachin may deserve praise but not all of whatever is showered upon him. As recently as the England test series - an innings in which Dravid and Karthik had scored something in the 80 + regions and Sachin some 40's the report had a single mention of both of them but every single stroke - offence or defence had been admired by the writer.I shall stop it here for I do agree that Sachin is a great player without doubt, but not as great he is projected to be is my arguement.

If the captaincy of the now strong Indian team goes to Sachin , there is a course of possible events that might have lead to this - Sachin dropping a hint to the selectors/ Pawar/Dravid that he might consider taking up captaincy once again before he calls it a day. Either Dravid would have been commanded to step down or he would have done so graciously. Doesnt that seem like a brilliant story ?? Of course it is ( I at least hope it is ), I made it up for I am no lover of Sachin Tendulkar and seemed to make an interesting end for this long long post of mine :).

But if all this does mean that I get to see more of the ever stylish innings built from brick by the great indian wall, I am all for it .