Skip to main content

Dravid's turn to follow


With Kumble joining Ganguly in making the right decision for their careers, hopefully Dravid will also see the light and follow suit. He has really struggled for runs over the last year or so and increasingly is finding new (and very un-Dravidlike) ways to get out. Over the last two years he has averaged 32.04 (which has brought his career ave down to 53 from 58). Take out the two matches against Bangladesh and this goes down to 29.53 with a solitary hundred and six fifties. Anyone else with that kind of a record would have been dropped by now. In fact its surprising that Laxman who averages 55.68 in that period and Ganguly who averages 46.48 have faced more scrutiny and faced the chop when India play five bowlers. Proud man that he is, it doesn't behoove Dravid to hold on to his place just on past reputation.

Having said that, I really hope he's able to do a Sampras and go out with a bang in Nagpur. A hundred for Dravid and an Indian win would be an ideal note to finish the series and for Dravid to call time. Of the Fab Five, in the long run I think it is Dravid that will be missed the most. Not only is his elegant yet steely style of batting and grafting going out of fashion, none of the youth brigade come even close to matching his abilities as a slip fielder. So its going to be a double blow when he retires. Tis was a true champion, when comes such another?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Et tu?

As a single sport website, I think Cricinfo has brought about a revolution and the fact that they were bought by ESPN is testament to how highly valued they've become. Their editing and approach to articles/opinion has been refreshing to say the least and even though they seem to have had a lot of editorial staff movement they've usually maintained very high standards. Off late though, both in their headline styles as well as in actual content, there seems to be an occasional slippage of standards and an inching towards the modern media sensationalism which is a bit of a pity. This piece  by Siddharth Monga is a classic example. Granted that the last two press conferences by Dhoni and Sehwag  indicated clearly that the captain and his deputy did not agree on this aspect of selection but "discord", "dissent", "public sniping" feels rather presumptuous and heavy handed. Yes, it is a team sport but there is no reason why everyone on the team needs ...
1 comment
Read more

Of backward selections and England's future

A couple of interesting selectorial decisions recently by England and India (and actually as its turning out Australia as well!). For once I think the England selectors didn't panic and showed the right thinking by not picking either Key or Ramprakash for the Oval Test. And luckily for them, both Bell and Trott have performed well enough to vindicate the decision. India on the other hand have actually gone the other way bringing Dravid back to the one-day squad. I'm a bit ambivalent on that one. While the decision to leave out Rohit Sharma and retain Raina was certainly the right one, bringing back Dravid is questionable. It would have been a bolder decision to pick someone like Kohli or Rahane who both played really well in the Emerging Players Trophy recently, mainly because Dravid is quite unlikely to feature in the 2011 World Cup so why bring him back now? As for the Aussies, they will certainly be regretting not picking Nathan Hauritz for the Oval. A defensive decision if...
Post a Comment
Read more

Happy New Year .....

....well almost......its only 2 months in to 2009 so I guess its not terribly late for the first post of the year :-) The end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 has been quite engrossing primarily because of the tussle for supremacy between Australia and South Africa. And its interesting how once again, the Aussies are showing that the biggest mistake 'pundits' can make is to write them off. But I am jumping way ahead. The series in Australia was a real cracker and it was great to see the Springboks actually delivering so well on their abilities for once and not choking at the big moments. And in Steyn, Amla, de Villiers, Duminy and Morkel they have some real stars in the making and should be a strong team for some time to come. Australia's struggles on the other hand were not surprising after their performance in India. The same guys, i.e. Hayden and Lee continued to underwhelm and with the inexplicable selection of Symonds made things worse for Ricky Ponting. They were a l...
Post a Comment
Read more