Apr 15, 2004 03:58 PM
3093 Views
(Updated Apr 15, 2004 04:55 PM)
Recently there have been lot of discussions and reviews going on about Cricket and Indian cricketers thanks to Indian tour to Australia and Pakistan. But this one from me is an answer to one of mouthshut.com friend who raised a debate.
As it is quite usual in India I too have grown up with Indian cricket even after knowing that very few counties play cricket and it takes quite a lot time for watching them. The world cup victory in 1983 gave lot of publicity and fanfare to cricket and star cricketers like Kapil, Mohinder, Gavaskar etc., As cricket entered its modern time with Australia taking the limelight shadowing the mighty West Indies new players like Azaruddin, Siddu, prabhakar started taking the charge along with oldies kapil, shastri etc., Though I loved watching Kapil and Gavaskar playing for India it was Tendulkars entry which increased my interest and passion towards cricket.
It was 14 years before the little wonder sachins legendary journey to the cricket arena, has remained a great memory for me. His consecutive three sixes on that time legendary leg spinner Abdul Quadir s bowling in a exhibition one dayer has made sachin my greatest icon. After that there was no looking back. Under Azars captaincy though India performed inconsistently a soft-spoken sachin performed consistently in both form of cricket and had records keep coming for him. He was the lone excitement to Indian cricket who gave quite a few victories with his individual efforts and grew bigger as his records speak for them. But as a captain he was a disaster as his decisions were not intelligent and his interest to have failed Kambli repeatedly into the squad raised few apprehensions. His failure as captain lead to Ajar once again captain and after that it is a history as few Indian cricketers were accused of match fixing.
For Azhar in his limited success Jadeja was there but both of them ruined their carrier in match fixing controversy. It is an irony that Sachin did not use properly Dravid for one dayers as India needed a consistent player that time. Recently he had low patches and seemed under pressure to perform. His reputation has remained clean (but taken a minor beating when he expressed his unhappiness for denied chance for completing 200 runs). apart from all these. But Tendulkar remained a big name till others arrived to share the fame.
It was way back in 1991 during Indian tour to Australia we saw another young cricketer who promised in the making of another Sachin to Indian cricket. But he disappeared till his second innings in 1996 tour to England. There were talks about his lack of sportsmanship in cricketing sense and representation on zonal quota basis eventually leading to his ouster, which he has refused many a times. His masterly maiden century against England in a critical situation made people regret his absence for long time. But I liked his batting in one dayers after he started opening with sachin. His powerful sixes and gutsy knocks have delighted me just like any other Indians inspite of his weaknesses on bouncers and swinging deliveries out side the off stump.
As he is an outspoken person by nature he raised many controversies from the beginning of his carrier. He is a very aggressive player and his this nature uplifted Indian morale and he has slowly mastered the skills of captain. I have always felt Ganguly is the best bet for Indian captain even when Gavaskar was referring Dravid as the captaincy material. But Ganguly always requires a criticism from the media else he will end up complacency, which can be damaging to the present Indian cricketing team.
It is Ganguly who supported Dravid during his difficult time. If today we have one consistent player in the name of Dravid for one dayers it is mainly due to Ganguly ( He did not forget to make a call to Dravid after Indias Big victory against Pakistan in Bangladesh as Dravid was dropped for poor form and slow batting).
It is the same year in 1996 along with Ganguly another cricketer Rahul Dravid made his debut in England who made 95 runs. After that he has always remained a constant fixture in Test cricket and has delivered when it is required most. But his slow batting in onedayers has drawn lot of criticism. He has always played for the team and may be he is the only player who has no problems to play in any order in test as well as onedayers.
To be in the onedayers he has taken the mantle of keeping wickets besides his solid technically sound batting which is just sufficient to be in the team. His statements are always balanced and his commitment towards team is exceptional. He has always performed when it is mattered for the team. Having said that he too had low patches in his career and his slow batting caused India few matches but he was sincere in accepting them and always tried to rectify them. His performance in the ongoing test speaks everything for him?He may not be the genius of cricket like Tendulkar but he is the best for the team right now.
So it is Rahul Dravid
