Yorked!!! – By Chetan Narula.

What's the fuss all about???

So Rahul Dravid gets dropped (or rested, whichever way one wants to look at it) from the ODI squad and there’s a huge hullabaloo about it all over. Yes, a player of his stature has not found a place in the team which is worrying, but that’s a different proposition altogether. More important is the fact however, that this man was captain of this very team about until two months back. Suddenly, he will be sitting in his drawing room and watch the team play their arch-rivals. What changed is what he ought to be thinking.

What changed is something that will be looked at towards the end. Right now, it is important to wonder about the implications of the decision. By no way, one is suggesting that the decision is wrong, or right, for that matter. Everything needs time to marinate, more so, everything in Indian cricket. So, again, what might be the implications?

No strength in the middle order, for one. Who will Dhoni look up to when Shoaib Akhtar and Mohd. Asif rip apart the top order, in an early morning start? Or when chasing a big target, the team loses a few quick wickets, and begins to meander from its path. And of course, he will be missed every time, Sehwag is found napping at first slip. Though, let it be clear, that by no way, “The Wall” is being made to look indispensable here.

For everything has a sell-by date. More so, the kind of cricket Dravid plays, when the country has just taken to T20, like fish to water. Thus, Sehwag, Uthappa and Ganguly could all drop down the order. Rohit Sharma can be groomed for the job too. The point is, with two big series coming up, should Dravid have been the one taking the fall?

Maybe yes, since he was out-of-touch, inspite of what people say. One won’t use the word ‘form’ in his case, simply because, players such as him, don’t have anything called form in their dictionary. But even by those standards, he has had a less than mediocre 2007. One ODI innings in England, though, isn’t enough anymore it seems, nor are the tons of runs he has scored over the past decade. That said, maybe no, is another option. What is Ganguly still doing in the team when his 100-plus-balls-innings aren’t helping the team either? Is this a hint for Dada too, come the next selection meeting?

So far, it seems to be a simple enough logic to drop (err rest) him. Let him sit out for two matches. Let him clear his head and in the meanwhile, we will get to see some youngsters tried out. So, why all the noise then? Are all the retired cricketers and so called ‘cricket pundits’ failing to see the simple but obvious cricketing logic behind this? If no, then they are simply ignorant, inspite of having been there and done that. If yes, then what is forcing them to do so?

The answer is a simple phone call. Dilip Vengsarkar returning the favor to his ex-captain, as even Dravid chose not to inform him of his resignation. Now, while one is laughing his/her head off at this egotistical gesture by two grown ups, some objectivity is required to look at it, whatever way you look at it. Rahul Dravid is rested for two matches and is not even given a deserved courtesy call, inspite of his services to the country for the past decade. Obviously this rang a million bells of some conspiracy everywhere, when there is none. For the Karnataka player is getting what we know as tit-for-tat.

For simplification purposes, let us consider an army captain, who has just won a minor battle at the front. But he’s all fed up with the monitoring of his ways by his superiors and, in Dravid’s case, the constant media & public glare. At the end of it, while his immediate superior is away at another front, the captain goes to the head-quarters and puts in his papers. Then he calmly walks away, as if nothing has happened. The immediate superior isn’t informed and gets to know through alternative means. What is he supposed to do?

Well, in the army, the superior won’t greet the captain, the next time he sees him. He would be shot, called a traitor, if he already hasn’t been. One is not suggesting anything similar in this case, but the fact is that what goes around comes around. You simply can’t relinquish the second most important post in India (the prime minister’s being the most important one, one thinks) and walk-off without absolutely no rhyme or reason. Thanks to the huge media presence, Vengsarkar was directly seen as the reason for the same.

It is no hidden fact that the two didn’t see eye-to-eye on many occasions previously, be it team’s selection or the coach’s. And this seems to have been the last straw. Plus the Mumbai lobby theory. Or previously, the Bengal lobby theory. And the fact that Sachin Tendulkar who maybe rightly named test captain, will also be incarcerated under this same logic, is a sad testimonial to the affairs of Indian cricket.

Now before the average Indian fan gets ahead of himself, it has to be cleared out that he might actually return for the next three ODIs. Consider India trailing 2-0 and the picture will be more than obvious then. Already, Pakistan have started rubbing it in, it being Dravid’s absence. Anyways, he is still very much a part of the test plan, no doubt about that, and obviously, when Down Under, will be part of the ODI ones as well, as the pitches will demand it. But then again, parameter seems to be the criteria now and he will have to perform, something he is very much capable of.

As promised, towards the end, we discuss, what changed in Dravid’s life? The simple fact that he let go of the second most powerful job coupled with his spiraling-down performances and obviously rubbing some one as important as the selection committee wrong. Getting away with murder would have been easier.

Flying Lap!!! – By Chetan Narula.

Did the best man win???

Sport can be real cruel sometimes. Lewis Hamilton found that out the wrong way, first in China and then in Brazil. It can be pretty hard when you have been leading the world driver s championship from the second race onwards, only to see it slip away in the last race. But that said, his competitors have been there and done that. Kimi Raikkonen, third time lucky this year, has previously twice tripped at the last hurdle. Of course, one can now add Fernando Alonso to that list as well. Read More.