Dravid Finally Speaks, And How!

This is a piece I had written just after Royal Challengers' (RCB) first win in IPL2 in South Africa. This piece is as relevant today as it was then and I am putting it up on the blog on the second day of the third test between India-SL (Dec 3, 2009). Dravid has already scored 2 hundreds in the first two test matches of this series and is all set for the 3rd one in a short while from now. Dravid's fearless batting which started during last year's NZ series, has been going on unhindered till date. And so is his agression. After scoring a hundred at Ahmedabad, he made some un-Dravid-like celebrations, signalling that he enjoyed every bit of his cricket today. So what if he is not part of the ODI team. He will remain a winner in the real 'Test' always.

It is not common to see Dravid receiving Man of the match awards. In his entire oDI and test career, he must've received about 20 MoM titles. Dravid is not a guy who lets his emotion rule even under tremendous pressure. He offers a dead bat for all those probing questions, be it from the bowlers or the cricket journalists.

But that Saturday evening was unusual. There was a sense of accomplishment in the eyes of Dravid and he was not hiding it, as he normally does. When asked what he was trying to say when he pointed the bat at the dressing room on completing that fifty in CapeTown against Rajasthan Royals, he said that he wasn't proving anything to anyone, but was just acknowledging the applause of his room mates. But anyone who watched the match that day don't believe that it was done without intention.

Dravid has been under fire for not taking Royal Challengers to the top half of the IPL draw in 2008. He was ridiculed, reprimanded and even publicly humiliated by the RCB owners, journalists and viewing public in general for leading a test side. The standing joke doing rounds in the first IPL edition was that when Vijay Mallya, the owner of RCB, gave the responsibility to Dravid to buy the 'Best' team no matter what it costs; Dravid is believed to have heard it as 'Test' team. How else could one explain a T20 team that contained the likes of Chanderpaul, Kallis, Jaffer, Kumble and himself--all accomplished test players. Despite Dravid's best efforts to be the pillar of batting for his side, by scoring the highest runs for RCB in 2008 that included a quickfire 75 with a strike rate of 208.8, he was largely considered an utter failure in leading a team that contained loads of experience and little direction.

While receiving the MoM award at Cape Town, Dravid opened up and was quite vocal about his batting performance. This was a different Dravid for sure. He didn't mince words when he said that these are the conditions that bring out the best in him and he said it was when the ball is doing something that boys like him have an opportunity to do well. And he had done exactly that. When everyone was trying to hit their way out of the difficult batting conditions, it was Dravid alone who stuck to the task and made his knock count in difficult conditions. It was not as if he was getting bogged down and hitting to the fielders all the time. He was free-flowing and quite determined in his rapid 66. The fact that his individual score was 8 runs more than the combined total of Rajasthan Royals, spoke volumes about his impeccable knock. In his response to Shastri's questions during the MoM award, he was as free flowing in talking as he was in his batting.

Those of us who are following him very closely over the years know that this was not the usual Dravid, who couldn't express his true feelings in public. The fact that he hasn't come out in public on his decision to quit captaincy at the peak of his career is still a mystery. His free talk at the presentation indicated only one thing. That Dravid today is enjoying his batting and is not bothered about criticism anymore. Glimpses of his changed frame of mind was visible in New Zealand when he criticised Sehwag and Laxman (more the former than the latter) when they said that they fell while playing their natural game in the second test where it was necessary to stay put and bide time to save the match. Dravid battled for more than 4 hours in the second innings and in the company of Gambhir (who is touted as the next Wall of India). He said forcefully that there was nothing like a natural game in test cricket and a true cricketer has to play according to the situation. That was a great lesson for the slam bang gang of today who feel there is no cricket beyond the hit-and-run variety. Dravid's experience finally made him talk.

It surely shows that Dravid is enjoying his cricket these days. He has no fear or favor and is also ready to speak his mind now. He is well on his way to becoming the leading run-getter of IPL2 and his agressive play and sound technique is making the so-called more accomplished T20 experts squirm in their seats. Let's hope runs and words flow freely from this legend and be a great education for the younger lot this season!