Dravid146;s biggest test

Indeed, those question marks were raised in the very first Test, at Lahore, when he walked out to open the batting with Sehwag. Perhaps his hand was forced by the inclusion 8212; against his wishes 8212; of Sourav Ganguly, and definitely, given what was at stake, it was a brave decision. But was it the right decision? Was it an act of good leadership?

Dravid, the keen student of life, will know that being a good leader is not about doing everything yourself. That is the cop-out, that is the easy way. Sometimes the harder decision is to hold oneself back and push someone else. That is what Dravid, the team8217;s best batsman and lynchpin, the only one capable of anchoring an innings, should have done each time.

His decision to open met with spectacular success at Lahore and Dravid scored a century in that role at Faisalabad as well but he would have known that it was a gambler8217;s run, and bound to end sometime. A captain cannot afford to gamble.

As captain, he must also take some hard decisions. He probably took one the moment he accepted the captaincy 8212; that with it, he accepted the role of compromise in Indian cricket. He is shrewd enough to understand that his own inherent beliefs in meritocracy and professionalism are not shared by all and will not always come to pass. Yet he will be held accountable for any errors of omission or commission.

But the harder decision is in dropping players 8212; or at least threatening them with the axe. Put another way, it8217;s called competition, and it does wonders for performance. Why else do you think Sourav Ganguly was one of the gutsier batsmen at Karachi? What do you think Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman need now? And, seen from the other side, shouldn8217;t the host of middle-order batsmen 8212; led by the unfortunate Mohammed Kaif 8212; waiting in queue for their turn be sent some message of hope?

Every top sporting side puts its stars on notice when they stop performing. The Australians are the most ruthless in cricket but even they can8217;t hold a candle to the world of professional football, where only results matter. Non-performing assets are either benched or, worse, made to suffer the ignominy of training with the youth and reserve teams. The manager/coach does it for one simple reason: because his job is on the line.

Dravid8217;s captaincy is not on the line, of course, nor should it be. Indeed, his own high standards of self-appraisal means that he will probably be his harshest critic though there will be some competition in the days to come. But he needs to rethink his captaincy style. He leads from the front, each and every time, but he doesn8217;t inspire. He can show each team member how it should be done 8212; keeping wickets, fielding in the slips, opening the batting 8212; but he somehow can8217;t get them to do it.

Now, more than ever, is the time. There is every reason to believe that the one-day matches will not be affected by the outcome of the Test series. They are different animals, and India have enough going for them 8212; fresh, hungry players coming in, a format to suit our style and strengths 8212; to repeat their feat of two years ago. But the advantage lies squarely with a rampant Pakistan and their inspirational leadership.

This is Dravid8217;s biggest test. Every cricket crisis he has faced in the past has seen him batting his way out of problems. This time, he has to help his team out of it. The perfect challenge for India8217;s thinking cricketer.