Rahul Dravid: A leader of men

[Kamlesh Barjati]

After regaling the audience over a span of 16 years, Dravid has made a silent exit from the international scene. In a career that saw him achieve many highs and few lows, Dravid was the inspiration behind many outstanding performances of the team. A realistic individual and a team-man to the core, Dravid has quit on his own terms, something that has been rare in recent history. In his own words, Dravid has had some wonderful moments but it is now time for the younger generations to take India forward.

Dravid has not just been a wonderful player, he was a superb captain as well. As in his batting, he experienced some terrific highs but also some significant lows. He was not seemingly assertive like his predecessor nor presented a steely determined face like his successor. He was a man who had a soft exterior which belied the hardness underneath, a man capable of taking tough decisions that steered Team India towards greater glory.

The ones who have experienced it say that captaincy is a thorny bush to sit on. If there is one country where the captaincy acts as a double edged sword, it is certainly India. It is a land where you are praised to the sky for every success, but can expect the literal opposite for even the smallest of failures. The cricket captain is treated as the man responsible for each and every facet of the game. He survives on a daily basis under the scrutiny from all quarters, the team, the board, the media and the frenzied fan.

It is to the credit of Rahul Dravid that he came out of the jig-saw puzzle called Indian captaincy with flying colours. He was the commoner's skipper, one who led from the front and rallied his troops under adverse conditions.

I recall Dravid as perhaps the only captain who could take decisions that could have made him unpopular. Which captain in the world would have declared leaving Sachin Tendulkar just six short of a satisfying double ton against your arch rivals in their own backyard? Dravid did so, and his explanation was convincing.

What would a skipper do when he has a total of just 104 to defend against the World No. 1 team, Australia? The obvious answer would be to just get your best bowler as soon as possible. But what does Dravid do? Anil Kumble, the best bowler India has ever seen is held back with the skipper reposing faith in Harbhajan Singh and a young Murali Kartik. India won the thriller at Mumbai. Dravid's captaincy was a delight although he was just deputising for an injured Ganguly.

Dravid challenged himself and his team by taking decisions which seemed hasty and worthless to a partisan viewer. On a green pitch at Lahore, Dravid opted to bat. His reasoning was simple, India needed to learn to fight adversity. India lost the match but gained a lot more as a team.

Dravid's relationship with former coach Greg Chappell is a much talked affair. Dravid was often seen as one who toed the Chappell line without a question. Nothing could have been farther away from the truth. While the coach was renowned for his straight talk, Dravid was a man who was far more assertive of his own mind. The two inspired a new generation of Indian cricket, took India away from the dark ages where individual records were given more precedence than team priorities. A new India developed, there were wins at places where India barely saw a fight under the predecessors, and a series was won in the Caribbean Islands after a period of 35 years. India looked unto the world with confidence. To borrow a phrase, 'India shining' was a reality.

As it happens, one failure can take away lot of positives. Professional sport is a cruel place, the focus being more on winning and less on the attributes that make a winning team. India slipped badly against Bangladesh in the opener of the 2007 WC match with their hopes of advancing to the next round lying on a thin thread. India lost the must win match against Sri Lanka and were one of the two high profile heavyweights to be knocked out at the preliminary stage. Dravid was crushed, the writing seemed to be on the wall. Coach Chappell resigned having failed to achieve the objective which he set out for. The confidence of the nation was punctured.

However, Dravid is not a loser and the sad exit from the World Cup was not the ideal way to bid good-bye to captaincy. He returned with vengeance leading India to series victories away to Bangladesh and England. The win in England was one of the most satisfying moments of Indian cricket. The country had beaten their old colonial masters after a period of 21 years. Even as the nation was celebrating a grand achievement, Dravid dropped the bomb-shell by resigning from the captaincy. He was going to quit on a high and not be forced into doing it.

If Ganguly had laid the seeds for modern India, it is fair to say that Dravid and Kumble nurtured it and grew it into a big tree, the fruits of which could be enjoyed by the next generation of Indian captains. Four and a half years after he bid good-bye to captaincy, Dravid has retired from international cricket on his own terms. Once again, people have been forced to ask why and not when. After sixteen years, the normal sight of reassurance seeing Dravid walk in at the fall of an early wicket will be missing. This might have well being the last view of classical text-book cricket. As Dravid himself stated, he leaves the sport with a tinge of sadness but with a lot of pride.

© Cricbuzz

 

[ASHWANI]

Fanboy's Joyride
March 23, 2012


Arguably one of the most elegant and graceful cricketers of this generation retired two weeks back. Rahul Sharad Dravid's contribution to the psyche of Indian cricket will be something that will take some beating. He is one of the few who made his way into the hearts of young women, budding cricketers and the middle aged as well. (Reasons for which were pretty evident on Wednesday). While it might be easy for many to observe his career objectively, it becomes a bit hard not to have a 'fanboyistic' view of not only Dravid the cricketer, but also Dravid the gentleman. The joy, obviously, grows exponentially when you are treated to sweet little anecdotes from his life and that is exactly what happened at the felicitation ceremony held for Rahul Dravid by the KSCA on March 21st, 2012 in Bangalore.
Two states have contributed immensely to the pool of Indian cricketers: Maharashtra and Karnataka. One could take a step further to say that more cricketers coming out from these states have attained legendary status than any other. So despite the fact that a player like Dravid is a national icon, the state association, which notices and grooms the budding talent from the start, has every right to exhibit puffed chests. That sense of pride was visible on the faces of those gathered in the ceremony. The glow on their faces was similar to that of a mother proud of her son's achievement. Logically speaking, it is the son who generally pays tribute to his mother, but this was one of the rare examples of the opposite.
The event started off with an endearing video which put together tidbits about Dravid from the people who have seen him grow right from Day 1. His mother, brother, school principal and best friend fondly recollected about the early years and it brought an air of nostalgia to the proceedings. His mother affectionately remembered that soon after Rahul was born, he was exposed to radio commentary of a Test match that his father was following. Though Dravid later brushed this aside as just an expression of motherly exaggeration, it held a mirror to the passion with which cricket was and probably still is, followed in the Dravid household. Another interesting revelation came from his best friend, who remembered the time when Dravid skipped a practice match to attend a party hosted by some school girls, which in the end the teenaged cricketer could not go to. Although that friend, and later Kumble , stressed that it was indeed a one-off instance, the mischievous smile on Dravid's face made one wonder if there was more than what met the eye. It came as a gentle reminder to the fans that even if for just a short while; The Wall's concentration could be disturbed. When the video ended, the audience was left a bit moist-eyed, but the man himself betrayed few emotions.
The Tales of 'Don' Srinath
As soon as the video ended, Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, President and Secretary of the KSCA, escorted Dravid in a welcome that would have put cinema award shows to shame. The three shared the stage and enjoyed a lively interactive session along with the host. The easy camaraderie and mutual respect between the former Karnataka and India teammates was quite evident as they frequently went into a flashback mode. While Kumble remained elegant and generally formal and stuck to statements like "The only difference between a 15 year Rahul Dravid and now is the 23,000 odd runs he has scored across all formats", it was Srinath who completely played to the gallery and won the hearts of the people assembled there which is why those tales warrant a special mention.
After Kumble's address the anchor announced that Srinath would be the one to let a few cats out of the bag. Srinath was known as 'The Don' inside the Karnataka dressing room and his body language exhibited the same. When handed the mike, Srinath was at his witty best with Dravid being at the receiving end of his constant jibes. When he started narrating past stories, the audience realised that Dravid had always been ragged, albeit in a loving manner, by Srinath who was his senior at the state and country sides. He remembered one such incident in the Hamilton Test, where Dravid scored a hundred in both innings, one of which came in a 144 run 8th wicket stand with the Mysore Express. The fast bowler, tired after spending a day and a half in the field, was clearly in no mood to bowl again so soon and made that known to his junior. "I am going to stick around for sometime, so better make sure that you bat properly". Dravid was seen enjoying these moments and when he mentioned that Srinath had made '70 odd' in that Test, the latter cut in to correct him with the correct score which was 76. At one point of time, it seemed like the three were enjoying each other's company so much, the conversation could well have been taking place in a coffee shop rather than on a podium. The fest continued with Srinath mentioning about the subsequent Test in Wellington, where he wanted a reluctant Dravid to field at short leg as 'Everything fell short' off a certain Sourav Ganguly. Dravid gave in to the 'request' and immediately plucked a catch in that position and soon after, asked Srinath if he could go back to the deep.
Later, Dravid acknowledged that he had great respect for the art of fast bowling and was always in awe of the way Srinath bowled. These stories were a revelation:-for fans always think of cricketers as warriors battling it out in intense situations, but the actual interactions on the field might actually be something less serious, and at times, bordering on actual fun.
After this friendly banter, a compilation of Dravid's 10 best innings was shown. The couple of 50s that helped India win the 2006 Jamaica Test made the cut and later, Kumble reasoned out that it had indeed, been a very difficult wicket to bat on. The music which accompanied the video added a touch of ethereality to the whole experience and everyone certainly felt the goosebumps go up
Steve Waugh's address
Rahul Dravid, when asked about his cricketing idols, mentioned the Steve Waugh amongst others. He repeated what he had written in the foreword of Waugh's autobiography, "Steve Waugh gave grit a good name". So it was a pleasant surprise for him when the anchor played a specially recorded video in which Waugh spoke about him. A genuine respect and admiration was felt when the former Australian skipper said that he felt a sense of pride that he was one of Dravid's idols and that he was still trying to forget the Laxman-Dravid stand in THE Kolkata Test. Waugh rattled off certain startling statistics, one amongst which was that Dravid had an average of 100+ in the 21 Tests that India won under Ganguly. On the subject of two great knocks that Dravid played against his Aussie side, he felt that the double hundred in Adelaide was the best he had seen Dravid bat, ever.
Finally..
At the end, Dravid was presented with a special memento by Roger Binny on the behalf of the KSCA. It was an apt choice , as Dravid had played alongside Binny in club cricket and used to pester the 83 World Cup winning bowler with questions when Binny would drop him home after practice. Binny also reminisced about an enthusiastic Dravid who always wanted tips from greats like Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev regarding batting in foreign conditions. Kumble and Srinath also escorted Sharad and Pushpa Dravid, Rahul's parents, onto the stage and presented them with a crystal memento, a gesture which saluted their role in Dravid's rise to the top. That brought an end to a glorious tribute paid to a glorious product of Karnataka and Indian cricket.
P.S.: If this wasn't enough, there was another show of greatness from The Gentleman. After everyone proceeded for dinner, Dravid called out all those, who had played alongside him right from his school to Ranji and India side, and asked them to come to the dias to be part of a group photo. Dravid might not have been a spinner who castled great batsmen, but that act of his surely 'clean-bowled' us.
© Cricbuzz