Has Dravid’s Pepsi proved costly? There’s nothing official about it

Adding spice to the whole rumour mill is Saurav Ganguly, whose bat cannot fail these days. Along with Dravid and Tendulkar, Ganguly is the man likely to take Indian cricket into the next century. And he belongs to Coke.

If sources are to be believed, the battle is becoming murkier by the minute. The axing of Dravid in recent weeks is seen as a one of the unsavoury by-products of the cola wars.

So, while Coke (read Ganguly) scores runs by tons, Rahul "The Wall" Dravid (read Pepsi) chills it out in the pavilion. The two best batsmen in the team are owned by two worst enemies. Vice-captain Ajay Jadeja signed up with Pepsi last week while the captain has no drink to turn to.

So while Coke gets all the mileage as Ganguly stays on the small screen, Pepsi has to open its cheque books and buy more advertisement slots to keep Dravid on the same screen.

Big bucks, envy, rumours. Perfect copy for a script writer.

There is no denying that Tendulkar is the hottest property in Indian cricket, but market reports indicate that he has been priced far too high. But then what does all that have to do with cricket and team selection?

Well nothing, and yet a lot. But one thing is sure, that Tendulkar who eats, breathes and lives cricket and is admittedly obsessed with the game would never compromise on the team’s chances by catering to vested interests.

Shift to the United States, where copywriters have a field day when basketball giants Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal are pitted against each other. Their clash is billed as Nike vs Reebok; Coke vs Pepsi. The corporate wars are intense and ruthless and they all recognise the only truth in their intense dog-eat-dog world: Money talks, bullshit walks.

Of course, when the Pepsi campaign — "Nothing official about it" — was bandied about during the cricket World Cup, the Indian public watched it all in amusement. Coke paid a hefty packet for becoming the official sponsor, but Pepsi with its brilliant campaign hogged the limelight. Now Coke is having a big laugh. And how.

Going strictly by performance, Dravid has to be a certainty in the 14 if not 11. If anything, he is in better form and has better one-day credentials than some others. No cricket follower can ever put the likes of Vangipuram Laxman and Navjot Sidhu ahead of Dravid. Laxman was consistently left out of one-day teams on the plea that he was the "man" for Tests. Now it’s Dravid’s turn to be called so.

That Dravid was brought back into the 11 for the make-or-break match against the West Indies in Sharjah is proof enough to indicate his usefulness. Men like Geoff Boycott and other renowned cricketers have said it. Surely they know a thing or two about cricket. And now after one match he is out. Yet again.

Coach Anshuman Gaekwad made light of queries in Sharjah by saying that it was a reflection of India’s strength that it could afford to omit players of the calibre of Dravid! Skipper Tendulkar stated that only 11 members can be fielded in a match. Forgotten is Dravid’s super century against the fiery Allan Donald. Glossed over is his ability to bring stability to the batting line-up.

The question is will cricketers have to face tests bigger than those on the cricket field to retain their places? But then in a game, where rumours of all sorts abound, how can you stop one more from surfacing? Especially, when winning is a habit forgotten and counting money the name of the game.