One who missed out: Dravid

As the Indians went through their pre-match warm-ups, the news had spread that Rahul Dravid wasn’t...

As the Indians went through their pre-match warm-ups, the news had spread that Rahul Dravid wasn’t to be in the playing eleven today. But even if one didn’t trust the grapevine, the signs were there. He went through the training session but didn’t take that usual long look at the pitch and when he left the field, he walked to the pavilion looking at the Aussie fielding session that had several 30-plus players.

Among them was 32-year-old Brad Hodge, with an average of 9.83 in the series, a shade less than Dravid’s 10.20, but still untouched. Patience was the prerogative of winning teams it seems. The man known as Mr Consistent for years wasn’t shown the leniency by a losing unit after his recent inconsistent show. The man who was used to carrying out the operations till some time back was carrying drinks today.

Not that he would have minded, considering the incredible win. But ask the BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah to choose between two words—dropped or rested—and he opts for the former with a typical twist. “A person in the 14 but not in the 11 is said to be rested,” he says.

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Former India coach Aunshuman Gaekwad agrees with this decision to rest Dravid. “He hasn’t looked confident of late. His body language hasn’t been great. So it isn’t wrong to see him sit out of this game,” he says.

The debate about the final XI was kicked up on the eve of the game when India seemed to be having a team meeting on field. Chairman of national selectors Dilip Vengsarkar with skipper MS Dhoni, deputy Yuvraj Singh and senior pro Sachin Tendulkar was seen one-by-one propping up fingers from closed fists — the usual gesture of someone making a headcount.

As it is learnt now, the decision on Dravid was taken at that time and the reason: his non-utility to the team when he isn’t scoring runs. The feeling among the decision-makers is while Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly can bowl, Dravid, while fielding, is merely a safe slip fielder at best.

Interestingly, Dravid had three slumps of ODI forms in his career. He was dropped in 1997-98 but very recently he had survived the axe even when the runs had dried out. In the period overlapping the World Cup in 2003 and the New Zealand ODI series before that, Dravid went without scoring a 50 for 12 innings.

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In fact, even before this World Cup, things weren’t smooth for Dravid. In the tri-series in Malaysia and the subsequent games against West Indies and Sri Lanka, Dravid featured in 10 games without reaching the half- century mark.

So how is it that Dravid missed the cut since this time around the non-50 games count has just reached 10? The reason: Like in 2007, Dravid isn’t the skipper and as in 2003, he isn’t a wicket-keeper now. When the runs dry, Dravid doesn’t have a plank to hold on to.

Dravid for now, is banking on the bat to row out of troubled waters. During the mid-innings break, he had a long session with bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad on field. This was followed by a long discussion. And when the Indian innings began, it was clear Dravid’s absence in the XI was temporary, considering his replacement Dinesh Kaartick was out for a duck.

Gaekwad gives his take on this. “One thing is clear — the people who have replaced Dravid are nowhere close to him. He is a guy who will consolidate when there is a fall of an early wicket. He should be your No 3 and he has lots of cricket left in him,” he says. That means ‘yes’ to be rested for a game, but ‘no’ to miss out from the ODI squad for Pakistan series.