Sourav Ganguly has announced his retirement, and despite the bitterness he exhibits each time he speaks to the media, the limelight is off him; for now. Sachin Tendulkar has done more than his bit in the on-going series and averages more than fifty. And yesterday, VVS Laxman of the ‘supple-as-rubber’ wrists fame got to an unbeaten double century against his favourite opponents to boost his run-tally up, and the critics out, of the hearing distance for now.
This has left Rahul Dravid a very lonely man. Unfortunately, he has been the one batsman who has not yet made his mark on the series. A fifty to start the series off with, one expected him to return back to his prolific form as we know him. However, his form has only deteriorated over the next couple of test matches. In fact, at the expense of sounding a bit harsh, I wouldn’t be too off the mark if I said that he is back to where he started at the start of the series. In the dozen or so test matches before the commencement of this Border-Gavaskar competition, Dravid had managed to conjure up the runs at a very un-Dravid like average of around 30, and it has been no different in this series.
For long now – almost since he first made that switch from the lower-middle order batsman to one-drop, Dravid has played his part to the tee. There have been times through his career, when the Indian selectors have juggled around with the opening combination like a clown – no puns intended – with his balls, and yet, he has had to invariably come to bat in the first couple of overs of the innings. He has had the tough task of facing up to the new ball under conditions which are at best most alien to the best of batsmen. Yet, his straight batted defence has led many an expert to christen him as one of the best, if not the best, in the world.
One of those rare Indians who could bat against spin or genuine pace with consummate ease, at both, home and away, Dravid’s extended purple patch came under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, when he formed an essential core of a team that had started to learn winning abroad.
Captaincy was the next obvious progression, and this great student of the game won matches in South Africa and England, something of a rarity in the history of Indian cricket. Yet, he resigned from his position, due to alleged differences with the erstwhile chief of Indian selectors, Dilip Vengsarkar. The rot in his batting – and this is in comparison with his near-60 average in tests – had just about set in. One thought that with the rigors of captaincy off his shoulders – and mind – he would be able to resurrect the same and get back to being his best.
Unfortunately, the same hasn’t happened. A century against South Africa in the interim did raise hopes, but the Sri Lankan series had him totally mesmerized by the Mendis-deception.
The reason, I think, could be two-fold. For one, Dravid’s impregnable defence has been penetrated to an extent. Never have I seen him edge so many to the slip cordon as he has in the last ten months or so, as Mitchell Johnson has been a consistent trouble-maker for this Banglorean. The other reason could be his lapses of concentration after a reasonable stint at the crease. Never have I seen Dravid getting so many starts, and yet, not going on to make something big. The other worrying factor is that even on the field, Dravid looks lost, almost desolate, while fielding in the slips.
However, to his credit, he has not dropped anything near his sight, and this gives me a little hope, that not all is wrong with him. Probably, it is a question of just one big inning, and with the fourth test match in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series to be played at Nagpur, his ‘sasural’, it could just be the right omen for this cricketing great.
For his sake, one hopes so, however, one also gets a sense that behind that quiet demeanour at slips, Dravid could very well be thinking of a one last hurrah and then calling it quits from international cricket.