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.

Yorked!!! – By Chetan Narula.

The beginning of the end???

India beat Australia in the last match of the recently concluded ODI series. The least it brought to the average Indian fan was a satisfactory smile and maybe the hope that their beloved team would do much better in the times to come. For one man though, it brought nothing more than some nail-biting memories from the late-90s, frustration and a bit of disappointment. That man is the ex-India captain, Rahul Dravid.

‘The Wall’ was told, on the eve of the match, that he wasn’t in the playing eleven and as usual, this has struck a discord amongst the many “pundits” across the girth of this nation. Some would argue that it was a wrong decision, some would still try and bask the team in the wake of their T20 triumph, and thus justify it as the right way to go. But which of the two is right? Are they both right? Or are they both equally wrong? No one knows, yet.

On hindsight, it was a good decision. Dravid, given his past accolades, has done little of notice this season. He had a mediocre series in England, where for the first time in recent memory, the team won a test series without a sizeable contribution from him, the 90-ball-12-runs notwithstanding. The ODIs were no better and then the shell shocking decision to relinquish the captaincy. The point here is, was that decision supposed to get him in-form? Maybe, may be not.

What made this particular decision to leave him out, look ridiculous, was that they played Dinesh Karthik instead of him. Had dinesh gone on to score some valuable runs and helped India score a half decent win, maybe then the team think tank would have been spot on. But as we all know, that all decisions don’t come out right always. Not every time, can Dhoni expect to throw the ball to some one like Joginder Sharma and expect him to win the match. Sooner or later, it is bound to backfire.

Why, one may ask? Class is the answer. As the age old saying goes, class is permanent, form is temporary. Or may be it is the other way round. The point is that on any given day, some one like Rahul Dravid will always bring more quality to the side than any of the Dinesh Karthiks or Rohit Sharmas. The only thing that the team management or even the selectors need to do is, select on the basis of merit. And thus, finally one can rest the debate by concluding that, on the basis of current form and the fact that it as after all a dead rubber, the “dropping” or “resting”, (whatever you would want to call it) was justified.

However, the debate doesn’t end here. Rameez Raja goes on to say that all the big three of Indian cricket should only play ODIs. Wasim Akram will agree as well as might some others. Dilip Vengsarkar, head of the selection committee being amongst them. But they, for all their money’s worth, are wrong.

There is no denying that the three are ageing, rather quickly it seems. But the only countable win that came in the series, came because of the seniors. If some one were to say that the team is capable of winning without them, then there is serious doubt over that person’s cricketing intellect. T20 is one thing but both in the tests & ODIs, their experience is valuable. With the series against Pakistan and then Australia down under just round the corner, it is for sure that once again the trio of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly will prove their detractors wrong.

But, again, there is some shade to their path forward. The trio must understand that now the patience of both the selectors as well as the public runs thinner than it ever did. Constant performance is the only requisite and past laurels are, well, past laurels. Also, they must pick and choose their matches more often. For example, in the coming months, there might be a few ‘dead’ ties, which they would do well to skip on their own and not only give the youngsters a chance, but get themselves energized too. The fact that they were not considered for the Challengers Trophy can only be a boon to them, if one is capable enough to read between the lines.

It is beyond doubt that they have the required temperament. They are, after all, the three best batsmen in either forms of the game. They have to believe that their time is not yet up and also that they still have a lot to offer to Indian cricket. The end is yet far, far away.

And, make no mistake, each of the three has earned the right to decide for themselves, when they want to bid adieu. One only hopes that they know when it is time. But more than that, one prays that the rest, who are around them, don’t make that decision for them.