Celebrating the Fall of The Wall

Rahul Dravid's resignation must have definitely come as a shock to both the faction, one who loves The Wall, others who love to hate The Wall. Well, I belong to the former faction who sees Rahul Dravid and his style as an inspiration not just in cricket, but in other walk of life as well. Someone who believes in doing his work silently and honestly.

In recent past whenever I have spoken to any Cricket Crazy Fan about Dravid, the name of Sourav Ganguly automatically came up. This reminds me of a small incident some time back. Staying at Kolkata I am always surrounded and "hounded" by Ganguly fans. :) Once I wore a Rahul Dravid T-Shirt to my office and very strangely there were people who were strongly offended by it and had objected to it. The reaction seemed very strange and irrational to me. Some one even dared to come up to me say this is an insult to "Dada" and you cannot wear a Dravid T-shirt at Kolkata, almost leading to a verbal altercation. Freedom of Speech, you see. Huh!!!! I have always tried to make people understand many at times, loving someone does not mean hating others at the same time. To this day I have not been able to comprehend how I "insulted" Sourav Ganguly on that day. Anyways, the idea behind writing about this incident is, I by no means want to criticize Sourav. I love Dravid and have no objection to others loving Sourav.

Rahul, has many at times been criticized recently, even during the recent English tour, of winning the toss and electing to bat or bowl. Well, as most of the cricket fans know, that the decision to bat or bowl is not taken alone by Captain. It is a move, generally taken democratically by the Captain along with Senior Members, Coach and Management in a Pre-Match Strategy Session. Agreed, a Captain is at the helm of affairs. Still, why blame Captain alone. Ajay Jadeja once made a very interesting remark at a TV Channel on this. "What if you lost the toss, and the other team asked you to bat or bowl. Will you simply give away the match and not play just because you lost the toss?" Does the game of cricket starts and ends up with the toss.

Agreed, Sourav was an aggressive captain and Rahul is not. But you have to understand not every individual is same. Some of us are aggressive by nature, while others are not. But has India not won matches under Rahul. For your information, he is the most successful ODI Captain of India winning 53.16% matches, even better than Sourav. Then again, we would always say Post match that Rahul Dravid chose to bowl so and so player or chose to bat so and so player. It is always so easy and convenient to comment on anything once it has happened. We always have the benefit of commenting based on the result. One should understand that a Captain choses a particular move hoping it would click and a lot depends on the other individual as well. The decision may backfire, as the other player failed to perform. So, why blame the captain alone for this. In the same English tour bowling Yuvraj when all the frontline were taken to task backfired, whereas bringing Robin Uthappa to bat at a crucial juncture paid off handsomely. So, its just that. One clicks the other backfires.

Leading a team from a Board Room is much different than leading a team on the field. The greatest difference between sports and otherwise leading a team is that you not just have to inspire your team-mates to perform, you also have to set and example. Rahul executed the dual responsibility of captaincy and batting with elan. The feat achieved by Rahul was never matched by Sourav or Sachin. The stats speaks for my man.

Then again, every captain has had their ups and downs including Rahul. OK, India exited from the first round of World Cup but there have been many other achievements as well during his tenure.

• I remember, Indians were always labeled as very bad chasers until some years. It is only under his captaincy India set a record of maximum no. of consecutive successful run chases. Dravid was captain on 15 of such 17 occasions.
• India winning a Test-Series in West Indies, first time since 1971. (Well I was not even born then, so a first series win in WI in my lifetime. :)
  
• Only Captain to win a Test Match against South Africa on South African soil.
• Lead India in a Test Series win in England in 21 years.
• Most Successful ODI Captain with a winning percent of 53.16%.
  

I am sure, all would agree that these are by no means small achievements. Still, isnt it so nice to criticize Rahul.
Given the kind of thorough Gentleman Rahul is, we are sure, we will never be able to know his side of story. What lead him to resign from Captaincy? Still, it was a great sign to resign after a very successful English tour. Rahul Dravid resigning on a high note. He would definitely have been retained for at least a season or two.
Salute to my idol, THE WALL.