A tribute to Rahul Dravid

                                                                          

I would start this article by mentioning the thought which occurred to me the other day : ‘To be Tendulkar you must possess destiny but to be Dravid you must possess determination.’ This thought occurred to me while I was working on a particular test case in my firm Symantec which I was not liking at all(some people will say I don’t focus but then one just doesn’t focus on things one doesn’t like :P). I opened the news article and the sports section was as usual filled with praises of Rahul Dravid because of his retirement.

                Then one of the articles caught my eye. Its title was ‘Corporate learning through Dravid’s batting.’ The analogy drawn via his batting was remarkable. It talked of patience, aggression, failure, concentration and all possible attributes of Dravid’s batting which are required to succeed at the corporate level as well. But I feel the biggest quality which Rahul possessed was ‘team’s interest over his own’ which I feel is very much required in everyone’s life.

                I have decided not to bore you guys by mentioning some of the great innings played by Dravid since most of you reading this article are cricket enthusiasts and would be knowing about Rahul Dravid more than me. But I would like to ponder upon this one innings of his which he played in the Nagpur test against the ‘invincible’ Australians in 2004. A mention of this particular innings was also there in Bangalore mirror few days back. So in this blog I take the opportunity to express my opinions about this innings.    

                It was October 2004. Aussies were firing on all cylinders and having already won the first test in Bangalore, they were on a high. India on the other hand were trying to save the “final frontier”.  Aussies batted brilliantly on a green pitch to reach the target of 398. Striking early they left India reeling at 75-4. It seemed that Dravid-Kaif partnership was the only hope for the Indian team. So the scenario goes like this:

                Rahul Dravid took a single off the first ball of the new spell by Glenn McGrath and watched from the non-striker’s end as Kaif battled for survival for the next five deliveries. After that over both the batsmen were compelled for a meeting. Dravid said to Kaif : “He’s bowling out his skin.” Kaif said he would do his best but Dravid thought otherwise. He came up with a plan saying that for the rest of the McGrath’s spell he would take on the wrath of the Australian fast bowler playing his 100^th test. Both these batsmen realized that this decision was not to question Kaif’s batting ability since he had been in the prime form for the last few months. Its just that Dravid being more experienced was better qualified to do the job.

                For the next 20 minutes it wasn’t India vs Australia. It was Dravid vs McGrath. These two legends engaged in a kind of battle which redefined the boundaries of test cricket. McGrath tried everything to tempt Dravid into playing a false stroke by bowling him short, outside off, bowling impeccable yorkers but nothing seemed to work. India scored five runs in the next six overs with all runs coming from Warne’s bowling. The so called cricket “experts” in the commentary box criticized Dravid for being overly defensive, for appearing to be clueless against quality bowling on a seaming track. What they didn’t realize that Dravid had already anticipated the situation and chose to face McGrath-Warne alone which mind you none of the batsmen in the world would have done and that too on a green track.

                Coming back to the match situation McGrath started to get tired and Dravid was quick to notice that. He realized that if India see off this spell hopes would still be alive. So he solidly defended McGrath for the first five deliveries. But Glenn McGrath was also a clever customer. He understood Dravid’s intention. He bowled one to Dravid where the ball came in and then swung little late. It took the edge of the bat and the catch was held by Warne at first slip. Rahul Dravid was gone.

                His figures read : 140 ball 21 runs, 173 minutes. People might say that it was a small, insignificant knock but what they don’t realize is that this knock wasn’t played by Dravid because of chance but it was played because of his choice. He could have got into an aggressive mode and would have easily taken McGrath and Warne to cleaners but then again he was mature enough to understand the risk involved as well. He chose to put team’s interest before his own without caring too much about runs which he could have added to his tally of 13288.

                I would like to end by saying that Dravid’s patience was his aggression. His fearless attitude made India realize what sport is all about. And finally his courage to face the best with ease and seeking for improvement all the time took India out of the shell of complacency.

                Thanks a lot Rahul Dravid for all the memories which you have given us. I always wished to become like you but I realize now the true worth of the statement made by Tendulkar that there is and can be only one Rahul Dravid. The only sad part is that when I’ll watch India play next time at Johnsburg, Lord’s, Oval, Headingly, Adelaide, Eden Gardens or as a matter of fact any cricket ground you won’t be visible in the Indian dressing room waiting to get in the middle or on the ground in the first slip ready to pounce on anything and everything that will come your way.

Australia Vs South Africa test match at Capetown(9-13 Nov 2011)

What is it with battles between these two nations? They are always unique in their own way.  Whether it is the 1999 world cup semi final or the very popular 434-438 match in March 2006 or the recent test match at Newlands (Cape town), it seems that analysts run of possible match situations. Just when a cricket lover or cricket expert starts thinking ‘this is not possible in cricket…’, it takes place in Australia – South Africa match.

                Ties were a distant possibility until 1999 world cup semi-final match between these two countries was witnessed and ‘tie’ still remains a least probable event. 400 was never considered achievable by any team in ODI but on March 12, 2006 Australia simply demolished South African bowling by scoring 434. The events that followed were even more dramatic. Even the most optimistic South African fan would have lost all hope of the home team’s victory but South Africa managed to achieve the target in a sensational manner with Boucher hitting Brett Lee at long on for four.

                Here is another match that will go down in history as one of the greatest. Venue :- Newlands, Cape town(South Africa), Date :- November 9, 2011, Teams involved :- need I mention it(??).  Australia batted first after losing the toss in what looked like ideal conditions for play. Apart from the few rising deliveries ball was coming on to the bat and Michael Clarke played gem of an innings. But unfortunately for him there were not many batsmen at the other end who could even reach their double figures. But somehow with the help of tail enders he managed to score 107 and Australia ended with 214-8.

                What followed on day 2 was mayhem. Day 1 and day 3 were just like any other normal days of a test match cricket. But day 2 was the one that acted like ‘stuffing’ between 2 pieces of bread that results in sandwich. Just like ‘stuffing’ is the entity that gives taste to the sandwich, it was Day 2 that gave flavor to this test match.

                This epic day started with Australia resuming their innings on 214-8. Tail enders played well against the fearsome attack of SA to push their score to 288. At that moment it seemed that Australia should have taken their tally to above 300. But with some ordinary batting from SA and some extra ordinary bowling from Aussies, SA were reduced to 73-5 and a score of 288 looked too much for Proteas to get nearby. Under pressure they were all out for 96 conceding a lead of 188.

                But then there is an old adage: ‘Cricket is a game of uncertainties.’ This saying must be modified a little bit. It should read as : Cricket is a game of uncertainties but when it is an Aus-SA encounter it becomes the game of unpredictability. And certainly what happened in Australia’s 2^nd innings, ‘uncertainty’ would be an inappropriate term. They were reduced to 21-9, and were on the verge of getting the dubious distinction of getting bowled out for lowest test score of all times. Fortunately, last wicket pair added 26 runs for them to take their score to 47, thus leaving SA needing 236 for a historic win. Given the events on Day 2, Aussies were definitely optimistic of their chances but their hopes were all dashed with brilliant centuries from Amla and Smith. SA registered one of the great wins of all times.

                Australia had to face severe criticism from former cricketers but credit must also be given to SA for performing outstandingly. Its not easy to bowl out formidable batting line-up like Australia for 47 and it becomes more difficult after coming back from a batting collapse conceding a lead of 188.

                Well lets hope that Johannesburg witness another exciting match where both teams must perform to their potential and may the best team wins at the end!!    

India's tour of England 2011

Summer 2011, England, in the grip of highly contagious virus ‘Cricket’.

This summer expectations were high of some scintillating cricket. India-England encounters were suppose to be an epic battle just like 6 years ago when during Ashes 2005 history was created by England when they defeated the great Australian team against everyone’s expectations. Incidentally, both these series started on the same day, same date and at the same venue, Thursday 21^st July at Lord’s.  

This series was meant to be special not only because it was meant to be a series between two top test playing nations but also because it was new ‘Era’ for test cricket with the 2000^th test being played between them at ‘Home of Cricket’, Lord’s. The pressure was more on Indian team with their No. 1 ranking at stake and of course on Sachin Tendulkar who was on the brink of another milestone in his career, 100 international hundreds. 

MS Dhoni’s team was asked to field first in the conditions which were tailor made for bowling with the ball doing a bit and the remaining part being played by the peculiar nature of the Lord’s pitch. India started off well by maintaining accurate line and length with Zaheer Khan attacking English openers with ferocious intensity. By claiming Strauss and Cook in the very first session he all looked set to conquer Lord’s just like Glenn Mcgrath did 6 years ago with his magnificent spell of 5 for 2.

But it seemed that sporting Gods decided to give MS Dhoni a hard time for his captaincy or in other words they wanted to test his resource management skills. So injury to Zaheer suddenly turned the fortune into England’s favor and the worried look on Dhoni’s face gave an indication of the silence that exists in the sea before the arrival of storm. It seemed that he already anticipated the outcome of the series.  

It has been said that mark of a champion is the way which he comes back fighting rather than how well he dominated. This is where the so called ‘Team India’ failed. Many cricket experts and commentators have blamed IPL, fatigue as the reason. But the truth is Indian team was more like a one man army. India simply did not have bowlers who looked set to come out of Zaheer’s shadow. To make matters worse batting looked clueless on those swinging pitches where the ball’s trajectory even made Dhoni’s keeping look fragile. Result : India lost the series 0-4, they were simply outplayed, thrashed and more importantly humiliated.  

Whether it was luck or whether it was nerves, either way it did not go India’s way. Everyone in the team might have got away by saying that it was the injuries which resulted in the team’s downfall but I feel the following reasons led to the team’s downfall:

Firstly, English conditions are very much different from other conditions in the world. Ball swings a lot in the initial sessions of a test match and as soon as ball becomes 50 over old, it starts to reverse swing. Andrew Flintoff explored these aspects effectively in 2005 and 2009 which resulted in England winning the Ashes. So Indian team definitely needed more time to settle in these conditions taking into account that majority of the players weren’t aware about English conditions.

Secondly, it has been pointed out rightly that in Cricket momentum plays a big role. It was observed in this series that the Indian players who batted with some authority like Dravid and to some extent Dhoni, were the ones who played test matches in the preceding series in West Indies. So the conclusion is straightforward : making a transition from one day or t20 to test format is a difficult one. Test matches requires impeccable fitness and a lot more skills as compared to its counterpart formats.

Lastly, bowling was the one which was on the receiving end majority of the times. As pointed out earlier about how cricket ball swings in the English conditions, India simply did not have the bowlers to exploit those conditions. For instance, Ishant Sharma who failed to understand the difference between Carribean and English pitches. For most part of his spell he bowled on the shorter side while he was required to bowl on the fuller side given that at his pace he could have troubled batsman with his swing. Praveen Kumar was swinging the ball well but his pace was not good enough to keep the English batsmen under control as was shown by KP(Kevin Peterson) who scored double century at Lord’s. And then we had Sreesanth who is known to ball 5% good deliveries and 95 % half volleys. If a batsman can survive those 5% then scoring runs of his bowling is a piece of cake. Finally Harbhajan Singh who was no longer an attacking bowler looked to contain runs than taking wickets.

Injuries are part and parcel of the game. India should have a bench strength to fill the gaping holes left by the absence of some their main players. India’s defeat again seems to have triggered the ‘Club Vs Country’ issue. For this BCCI must look to resolve it. It is BCCI who manage the schedule of national team and the IPL. So the big question is how can BCCI allow club franchises to pay more to players as compared to what they earn from international fixtures. If a player receives say $1 million for 2 months of mindless slogging then his interest is bound to deteriorate in the longer formats. This does not mean that I am against IPL since it allow many players to get decent exposure by playing along with some of their international counterparts. But then it must be ensured that IPL should not become money oriented so as to keep an international player focused on his international commitments and at the same time allowing domestic players to develop skills which are required to play at highest level.

India may have won the home series against England (5-0) but this doesn’t overshadow the fact that Indian batsmen lag the skills of playing swing bowling. BCCI must look into this matter rather than just making money and drain the players. Few pitches must be prepared with a little grass on it so that it has enough bounce to trouble batsmen. And finally, focus must also be maintained on domestic tournaments like Ranji trophy alongside IPL so as to keep longer formats of the sport alive.

Well that’s it. Let’s hope that this becomes the only ‘bad’ series for Indian team in times to come and let’s hope that India will not only regain its No. 1 status in the future but will also become ‘invincible’ like the Australian team of mid 90’s and early 2000’s.