There are some who are born great and some who have to work really hard to achieve greatness.
It is the latter group of people who are an object of my fascination, because they are role models for everyone of us. Not everyone is born great or a born genius, so when one of us mere mortals stands up to be counted, it is inspirational. And this is what makes me adore rahul dravid.
Rahul is inspirational because he gives a hope for the normal people. His success reaffirms the faith in mere mortals that you dont need to be born great to be successful. You can make your own destiny. His attributes list a strong set of qualities that every succesful person, needs to have, no matter what field you are in. The discipline, perseverance and patience that he gets into his game is something that should be imbibed by anyone.
What has been the one most cherished dream of the current set of cricket players of our country? It is to win a test series away from the sub continent. And if one were to ask ourselves why we haven’t won a test series outside of the subcontinent since 1986, the answer is pretty clear. We were never good enough as a team. Most test matches are won by bowlers as you need to take 20 wickets to win a match.
And the bowlers never had batsmen putting up enough runs on the board to win the matches. It was really sad for the fans of the team to notice that every single series went down an eerily similar path. The first two to three tests were a washout because the batsmen were not good enough to put even 250 on the board and in the later tests, the bowlers would fail to get the opposition team out, inspite of the batsmen coming good. It was an abject surrender and spineless piece of sportsmanship from our national heroes.
Yes there were some amazing cricketers even then. I would dare say that the bowling line up we had in the late 80s and early nineties was better than what we are having during the last three years. We had the great Kapil Dev, Manoj Prabhakar, a young Srinath and Anil Kumble. Yet, time and again, we were tigers at home, but away from home, we were gutless. And all the time, the blame was pinned on the inability of the bowlers to get wickets.
And it was not as if the batsmen did not have a few opportunities to script some memorable victories. The Barbados test comes to mind easily. It was at a time , when no other team had beaten them at home, and we had a glorious opportunity as we just needed a paltry 120 to win. And somehow we contrived to lose. And the Chennai test comes to mind easily too. All we needed was 17 more runs and we lost inspite of Sachin’s century. We had great batsmen even then. We had Sachin at his pomp, Azhar, and a very young triumvarate of Saurav, Rahul and Laxman.
So what has been the great change over the last few years which is enabling us to win so many tests outside India? We have won in Srilanka, Zimbabwe, England, Australia and the West Indies. In this regard, I think the Kolkata test was a watershed in Indian cricket history. And Rahul was there playing a pivotal role in this match, as he would in each of the above listed victories abroad.
The major difference as to why we are winning now is that we have a pivot around which even if one of the other five batsmen score the team cannot lose. And the supporting five batsmen have always been changing around, but the pivot remains the same-- Rahul Dravid. He was there in those matches in Chennai and Barbados, yes. But his failure then hurt him so much that it spurred onto greater deeds. I would dare say that those failures indeed turned out to be stepping stones for success of this great man.
He has, time and again, been a major player in all our significant achievement in tests outside India. Even in India, when the going gets tough, he is the man majority of us would bank on. It is astonishing to go into the mind of this modern great. In a recent interview, he says ’’When we are in a position to win, I want to make sure that I am there at the end. If we are losing, I try to make it as hard as possible for others to get through me. ’’ And it does take some doing to get past him. As he has showed so often in the past, when he has saved us from certain defeats in West Indies, South africa and England.
A lot of people say a lot of things about their batting, but it is rarely that anyone can bring the same intensity on the field. It is this grit and determination which has won him the love and respect of cricket lovers all over the world.
People compare him with Sachin Tendulkar. He would accept it as the ultimate compliment. But for me it shows that grit and determination can help you catch up with a genius. And therein lies a window of opportunity which each one of us must strive to capture, no matter what field we are in.
Sachin Tendulkar for me, is the most complete batsman in the world. A genius who plays the most beautiful shots in the world. But as his critic, I would say that in his 15 years in international cricket, he has not won a test match, when we are batting in the fourth innings, india or abroad. He has had solo acts of brilliance, but has never been able to either save or win a test for india outside india. And Rahul Dravid has done precisely that.
Adelaide, Headingley, Kandy being the cases in point. And it is this singular fact which makes me say, ’’Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman in the world, but if I had to choose one amongst our players to bat for my life, I would choose unwaveringly, Rahul Dravid, anytime, anyplace.’’
As his critics say so often, he is not as good a ODI player. And I agree to it partially in the sense that he WAS not a good ODI player. But he has innovated and modeled his game and taken it to such heights that I would dare say that in the One day format, he is next only in importance to Sachin. And thats saying something of a team that has such a star studded batting line up.
Selfless to the core, Calming influence on his team mates and an honest trier and a credible achiever. This is what he means to us. Lets savour him for as long as he lasts.