Dravid shines in starring role

Where in this side, he was asked, did he locate the winning difference? The success of a team is a reflection of ‘‘little-little things’’, he hazarded. It lies in the willingness to work hard, in professionalism, team spirit, the desire to win and off-field support.

Therein lies a window into the mind of Captain Dravid: big ambitions are tackled in bite-sized bits. His occupancy of the crease is extended session by session. In Multan he marshalled his men by breaking up the shot at victory into specific tasks. In the event, he was the man for the moment.

In this match India were left a bowler short, with Zaheer Khan struggling with his rhythm in the first innings and recuperating on the massage table in the second. He could have chosen to recruit a part-time spinner when one of the three frontline bowlers was fatigued.

Instead, on the field, Dravid rotated his bowlers rapidly, matching one short spell with the drift of play. Record books disdain what-ifs, and in Multan his shuffles were touched by inspiration. Sachin Tendulkar produced a wicket on the last delivery of the third day.

The second juncture at which Dravid took a right turn was in enforcing the follow-on. Kolkata is imprinted on Indian minds, and speculation was rampant that India would rush in big hitters upon the end of Pakistan’s first innings. Bowlers needed a rest, you see. Else, India would have to bat last on this lifeless track, you understand.

Dravid instead gave victory a level stare and grabbed it. It may be said that these are team decisions, let’s spread the credit for tricks that worked. But then we would be forgetting the third choice he made.

The onus will forever be on Rahul Dravid to give an account of his declaration. Sachin was on batting on 194 — celebrations have been muted, but it was milestone, a 33rd century to be delivered on the brink of a supreme record is so much more majestic if it’s a double.

It is said that the team was agreed that the declaration must come 20 overs before the end of the sixth session, that Sachin was given ample indication to speed up his scoring. Others would argue that never mind, cricket is at the end of the day a game for the large-hearted, what would a few overs have mattered.

Dravid decided they did. Hindsight is always 20:20 but then there is no way he could have known that he’d get his team home with almost an entire day to spare.

Some of us will always argue with that, but with his declaration Dravid did not spite another by curtailing his innings. He did what he has always said would be his primary duty: to adapt his cricket to the team’s requirements. You cannot fault a man for that.