Hell146;s Angel

That8217;s Dhanraj, a paradox on two legs. He evokes feelings ranging from admiration to frustration to a combination of both among present players, former team-mates, old coaches, IHF president K.P.S. Gill, everybody.

On the turf, Dhanraj is never predictable. The reputation stays with him off the field too. At one point, he called Cedric D8217;Souza, his coach in the 2002 world cup, the 8216;8216;best coach in Asia8217;8217;. When the IHF dumped D8217;Souza, he became the 8216;8216;laptopwala coach8217;8217;.

It8217;s the same equation with officialdom. Dhanraj has had many run-ins with IHF secretary-general K. Jothikumaran. They almost came to blows during the halftime break in the semi-final at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Yet more recently they were part of the lobby against Rajinder Singh, now the Indian team8217;s chief coach.

It8217;s easy to paint Dhanraj as the perennial victim but it8217;s also difficult to ignore his waywardness. During the India-Holland match in the 2003 Champions Trophy in Amstelveen Holland, he misbehaved with the umpire. He was team captain, the youngsters were looking to him in a crisis situation. But he lost his head and India the match.

His relationship with then coach Vasudevan Baskaran during the 1998 world cup in Holland was very strained. Dhanraj went as captain, despite carrying an injury, and hardly performed. In the Asian Games the same year, Dhanraj and another senior player Baljit Singh Dhillon had a fist-fight in the team bus after the final.

But the real ambiguity lies around the Gill-Dhanraj relationship, since even in private the striker is known to praise the supercop 8216;8216;Gill brought money into hockey8217;8217;. Yet Gill has now sacked Dhanraj six times.

Dhanraj grew up in penury in Khirkee Pune, in the ammunition factory area. He understands more than most others the financial insecurity that existed in Indian hockey even a few years ago. On the eve of the 1998 tour to Pakistan, Dhanraj dared even Gill 8212; pay the players or cancel the trip 8212; just 12 hours before the flight.

The IHF didn8217;t take any action at the time. But it struck when he least expected it. Dhanraj was sacked just after taking India to the 1998 Asiad gold.

Yet Dhanraj8217;s pull among the masses and media has outshone past legends like Mohammed Shahid in the 1980s and now even the young Jugraj Singh. One wishes Gill and Company knew how to utilise his flamboyant appeal to promote the game.

Dissenters have rarely been accepted in Indian sport. If a sportsman talks too much or raises issues he thinks are important, his career is cut short. Years ago it was Lala Amarnath in cricket, now it appears to be Dhanraj.

He has seen fame, awards Khel Ratna, Padma Shri et al, had stints with top foreign clubs, but Dhanraj has never once lost touch with reality. A few years ago, he started collecting used cartridges, selling them to a Dutch company to raise money for his hockey academy in Mumbai. The academy selects poor youngsters and offers them scholarships. Someday, Dhanraj may find his successor among them.