Monday, October 29, 2007

The Wall is being pounded


No this is not some wall on the Indo-Pak border. This Wall is India's most valuable match-winner till date. Match after match, series after series, Dravid has been the only player apart from Tendulkar to score against any opposition, on any pitch and under every clime.. He might not be your bludgeon wielding mass murderer of the Tendulkar-Lara kinds - but he was much more effective. His knocks have won more matches than the sum of Sachin's and Lara's match winning knocks. And he has been dropped from the team for the sake of a flat track bully, who can't say 'boo' to a cat on a pitch which has a tinge of green on it, on present form (which is pretty much constant over the last 2 years). And the other thing about this gentleman, Mr. Dravid is that he is one of the most self-less players, at least from those whom I've seen. Dravid would get a penciled No.3 slot in any team - yes, any team including Australia. He averages close to 60 in the tests at No. 3, which is next to only to - behold, a certain No.3 batsman named Sir Donald Bradman. In the one day arena, where he averages a shade under 40, his performances need to be put in perspective of the fact that after being with the team for more than 10 years, he STILL doesn't have a standard batting position - and this is not because his skills are suspect. In the time he was the captain, he could have made sure he gelled his position in the batting order, which was always taken for granted by the previous captains. Sample this, with the ever so inconsistent Srinath heading a young pace attack was not able to accommodate a keeper and Dravid had the guts to take up keeping and did a pretty good job of it in the WC 2K3. And I think he would be the only player to have played in all the positions from opening to No.6 for India and inarguably, he has done well in any position. And to make it better, Dravid is one of the better fielders in the Indian team, especially in the slips and formed a 'Taylor-Warne'-like combo with the Bangalore Bamboozler, Anil Kumble. Its a pity that when sub-standard players are giving a 20 match period to regain form, the Wall is being dumped after ONE poor series.

For those interested, this what Cricinfo has got to say about Mr. Dependable.

Highlights from Cricinfo's Dravid profile:

"Unusually for an Indian batsman, he also averages more overseas - around 60, again - than at home. But impressive as his statistics are, they cannot represent the extent of his importance to India, or the beauty of his batsmanship."

"As a New India emerged, so did a new Dravid: first, he put on the wicketkeeping gloves in one-dayers, and transformed himself into an astute finisher in the middle-order; then, he strung together a series of awe-inspiring performances in Test matches, as India crept closer and closer to their quest of an overseas series win."

"As India finished off the 2004 Pakistan tour on a winning note, on the back of Dravid's epic 270, his average crept past Sachin Tendulkar's - and it seemed no aberration."




DISCLAIMER:

For those who know me personally, having heard me ranting and riling against Dravid, if its Sachin Vs Rahul, I support Sachin for many reasons - but having followed Indian cricket for much of my 23 year life, I cannot deny that Dravid is one gift for Indian cricket after Sachin Tendulkar.

4 comments:

Nimme said...

hey Karthik,
Its sad WALL has to miss out.
lets see how consistent they are in selectionss.
Steve waugh got dropped just because he dint take his side to VB series final's once.
But there are enough ppl in Aus bench to replace a guy like STEVE.
WE shouldnt ape their model.
lets see how it goes

Sudha said...

Ya u are right Dravid has been one of the consistent players in Indian cricket.But i think it is also time for our younger players to show their skills.May be!!!

Ponnarasi Kothandaraman said...

http://princessofgold.blogspot.com/2007/02/
going-abroad_15.html#comments

Hello,
Found you from my old archives.. :) Hows u? long time no c???

CRICKET kum enakum sambandamey ila :D B back for next post! :)

Anonymous said...

Good words.