For a decade and a half, Rahul Dravid had shepherded the Indian top order, establishing sanity in the face of crisis and turmoil.
Now, as he celebrates his 40th birthday, he may have moved away from his timeless presence at the batting crease and in the first slip; but given the current condition of Indian cricket, there are many ways in which his serene sagacity and cricketing common sense can be of immense use.
If we look at the present scenario with detachment, stripping the plethora of loud voices that ring out of the associated frustration, agenda, emotions and – in some cases – retribution, Rahul Dravid indeed emerges as someone who can play a pivotal role in transforming the fortunes of Indian cricket.
No, not as a miracle man. With Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Dravid himself and Anil Kumble in their primes, miracles had been daily affairs and easy to perform. Times have changed. Dravid is one man who understands that the team is going through a transition and expectations need to be rationalised based on the availability of talent and experience in the playing eleven.
Dravid himself can be an excellent candidate to facilitate this transition.
Voice of reason
Dravid does his job as a commentator and analyst with a difference. While he has his views about tactics and decisions, he is the first – and may be the only one – to admit that the suggested ploys could go wrong as easily and it is always easy to criticise in retrospect. Perhaps the green fields he has walked on, for so long and with such dignity, have left a lasting honest stain on his boots. Or perhaps his playing days are too recent for him to wallow in a manufactured ideal past. But, he has kept his feet firmly on the ground, and the antiseptic air-conditioned environment of the commentary box has been unable to delude him into becoming a divine voice that can utter no wrong.
Amidst the turbulent calls for chopping and changing, the bloodthirsty demand for important heads to roll, Dravid’s voice has rung out balanced and sensible, following the same glorious way his bat had done the talking over the years.
While from all possible nooks and crannies of Indian cricket voices have clamoured for the head of MS Dhoni, Dravid has backed the skipper firmly.
There have been arguments for Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir getting the top job, important voices have claimed that Dhoni does not merit a place in the Test side. If these suggestions had been put under a rational microscope, eggs would have landed conspicuously on the faces of these backseat drivers.
Not only have Sehwag and Gambhir struggled to justify their respective places in the side, Dhoni, a wicket-keeper batsman, has had a better run with the bat in Test cricket in the recent past than the two openers. And the day an ex-selector came out all guns blazing, proclaiming that Dhoni did not have the technique to play Test cricket, the Indian captain batted through a full day in Nagpur on a difficult wicket. However, riding on the waves of fanatical emotions, the unreasonable voices have transcended logic and enjoyed heady popularity.
Dravid, however, has a much more realistic view of the situation. He understands that Sehwag and Gambhir have not performed for a long time, and cannot take up the reins in these circumstances. He is aware of the figures – a trait curiously uncommon in an Indian ex-player turned critic.
He is also pragmatic about Virat Kohli, and rightly says: “I believe it's a little early for him. At the moment, he is a growing, developing cricketer. I would love for him to get the job after India has played another 15 or so Tests, which means after the England tour, in September 2014. If he can keep his form and develop till then, it will be a good time for him to take over. He is a long-term prospect as batsman and captain, but giving him the Test captaincy at this stage might be risky.”
In Dravid’s vision – pleasantly long term – the next 15 Test matches, consisting of the home series against Australia, the tour to South Africa, New Zealand and the English summer of 2014, are crucial for India, and this period can see the transition coming along. And he believes that Dhoni can lead this transition fully, before leaving the reins in the hands of an able successor.
He speaks highly about Dhoni’s ability to lead from the front. “We saw this in the Nagpur Test match - and not merely from his 99. Because the wicket was slow, Dhoni came up to the stumps to Ishant Sharma, who was bowling at 140kph. To do that was gutsy, because it had ‘break your finger’ written all over it. Dhoni was willing to take that chance, and to me, in some ways, that shows leadership.”
While these views, aired across the media by someone of Dravid’s stature, do work wonders to apply a layer of reason on the tumultuous thought-space of Indian cricket, perhaps his contribution to the transition can be more direct.
Dravid as coach?
With the faith that he has demonstrated in the Indian captain, he can be the ideal candidate for the role of the coach, or at least a close advisor in any designated role that can be created to involve him with the team.
“It will require from Dhoni a change in the way he captains, a recognition that he can’t do everything all the time, and the willingness to ask for and accept help,”Dravid has gone on record voicing. By a logical extension, Dravid himself can be the one to advance the required help as and when required.
For the captain too it is easier to work with the supportive Dravid than some others who have hacked away at his credentials with a relentless sense of purpose.
Tactically, Dravid was the most brilliant skipper India ever had since Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. He has played alongside Dhoni for a long, long time. The two have been the only captains since the eighties to have won major Test series outside the subcontinent. Collaboration between the two can result in the perfect captain-coach combination to turn around India’s fortunes.
If we look through the annals of cricket history, the side that comes closest to the sudden depletion India is currently experiencing is perhaps Australia of the 1980s, when Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh left the scene together. It took a while, but Allan Border did turn things around. In the first four years, he won three Tests while losing nine. But, he managed to win the World Cup, and then convert the Australians into a world beating unit in Test cricket before passing his baton into the deserving hands of Mark Taylor. Close at hand, he had the wisdom of the canny Bobby Simpson to fall back on.
Dhoni’s case is slightly different. He had taken India to the pinnacle in both Test and One-Day cricket, he has already won a World Cup apiece in both the short formats of the game. The transition has affected the side in the very middle of his tenure. However, with Dravid playing a crucial role, the two can combine into a Border-Simpson like combination to guide India into becoming a winning force yet again.
(Arunabha Sengupta is a cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He writes about the history and the romance of the game, punctuated often by opinions about modern day cricket, while his post-graduate degree in statistics peeps through in occasional analytical pieces. The author of three novels, he can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/senantix)
England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat against India in the first ODI at the new Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot on Friday.
Despite losing the three-match ODI series against Pakistan, a consolation victory in the third and final ODI has give MS Dhoni & Co. the momentum ahead of the five-match ODI series against England.
Dhoni will also have one eye on the ICC ODI Rankings as a 5-0 victory in the series will take India to top spot. With criticism coming in from all quarters, Dhoni would love his team to come on top at the end of the series.
As far as England is concerned, this series will be a test of their number one ranking in ODIs. Currently they are marginally ahead of South Africa and will hope to stun the home side like they did during the Test series.
England have handed Joe Root his ODI debut while India have not included Cheteshwar Pujara, giving Ajinkya Rahane another chance at the top of the order.
Teams:
India: Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (c&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda
England: Alastair Cook(c), Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, James Tredwell, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach
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Battered and bruised by yet another series defeat, India's struggling cricketers will seek to restore some pride when they go into the third and final one-dayer against arch-rivals Pakistan at Delhi on Sunday with the future of some of the under-performing stars at stake.
The collective failure of the top order batsmen even in home conditions has hurt the team badly in recent times and the hosts will need a huge spark of inspiration to prevent the spirited Pakistanis from achieving a 3-0 clean sweep.
Clearly, the pressure will be on the Indians who have been plagued by an inexplicable form slump of their star batsmen while the limited and inexperienced bowling resources have compounded the misery for the hosts who have now sunk to a new low with the recent debacles.
With the series already out of their grasp, the Indians may experiment by giving a chance to some of their bench players but whether they can change the team's sliding fortunes remains to be seen in a day-night game which will start at noon to neutralise the dew factor.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in good form with the bat, has been at a loss to explain the repeated failures and there have been suggestions that he should promote himself up the order considering the poor form of the top half.
The hosts lost the first game in Chennai by six wickets and the second in Kolkata by 85 runs to give their arch foes their first series win on Indian soil since 2004-05.
Unless the Indians put up a far better display, the Ferozeshah Kotla could be a witness another drubbing for Dhoni and his struggling men.
Ajinkya Rahane, who has surprisingly not played a single match despite his decent showing in the two T20 games prior to the ODI series, is almost certain to feature in the playing eleven tomorrow.
The two experienced openers -- Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir -- have invariably failed to give a good start and that has hurt the team badly. The Indians may contemplate benching either Sehwag or Gambhir and let Rahane open the innings.
The form of Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina has been patchy and none of them have shown consistency nor have they shouldered the responsibility.
In the absence of retired greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, the experienced players in the team have not shown the willingness to take the batting load.
Dhoni has acknowledged time and again that the batting has let the team down.
"Everybody knows it's disappointing. When you are going through transition, you want your senior players to perform and groom the juniors. Once two-three wickets start falling, you need someone to soak up the pressure and consolidate the innings", Dhoni said.
"But again our batting was disappointing. It's important to have wickets in hand in the end. If you have wickets in hand, it's possible to score 80-odd runs in the last 10 overs," Dhoni said.
India's bowling also does not have the bite to pose much problems for the strong Pakistani batting line-up which has been well-served by left-handed opener Nasir Jamshed who has cracked back-to-back centuries.
The trio of Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda and Bhuvneshwar Kumar neither have the pace nor the consistency to evoke any confidence while spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have also not been in the of best form.
The absence of a genuine all-rounder in the team has hurt the Indians, particularly with the new rules coming into play.
The new fielding rules, which allow only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle, have made it difficult for Dhoni to use his part-timers like Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina for their full quota of 10 overs.
That has really handicapped the Indians who have always preferred an additional batsman with the part-timers filling up the fifth bowler's slot.
The home team may toy with the idea of giving a chance to rookie paceman Mohammad Shami Ahmed and leg spinner Amit Mishra, both of whom have warmed the benches in the first two games.
While India's cup of woes has been brimming, it is a totally different story for the Pakistanis who have found everything going in their favour.
The batting has clicked with Jamshed in stunning form while the experienced Mohammad Hafeez and Younis Khan have also chipped in with useful contributions.
But it is their bowling which has really made the difference, particularly the potent pace trio of Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan and Umar Gul.
Junaid has shown an exceptional ability to swing the ball and used the damp conditions in Chennai to devastating effect by ripping through India's top order.
Junaid was impressive in Kolkata also where he got reverse swing going and the jittery Indians must find a way to tackle him.
Irfan, the towering 7 feet one inch speedster, has also proved to be quite a handful for the Indians, getting the ball to bounce disconcertingly while Gul has also been impressive.
In the spin department, Saeed Ajmal can prove to be a wily customer while Hafeez and Shoaib Malik are good at doing the containing job.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq could not have asked for a better show from his teammates who have outplayed the Indians in every department of the game.
"Indian batsmen are struggling for quite a long time. But I think our bowlers exploited the conditions better. Normally we get flat pitches here in India. But both the pitches -- in Chennai and Kolkata -- were challenging for batsmen," he said.
Misbah is now looking for a clean sweep and it should not be difficult.
The toss may play a big role given the dew factor and the chilly winter conditions. The team which wins the toss, may opt to bowl first as dew may hamper spinners later.
Though the match has been rendered inconsequential, a full house is expected at the Ferozeshah Kotla with tickets being sold out for the Sunday showdown.
Teams:
India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (c&wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma.
Pakistan: Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Kamran Akmal (wk), Azhar Ali, Shoaib Malik, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan
Time: 12:00 local time (12:00 IST)-M R Mishra
Besides Fletcher’s impressive work as the coach of England team, what may have helped him clinch the Team India contract was the outgoing coach Gary Kirsten’s word in Fletcher’s favour. When Kirsten ended his four-year stint as the coach of Team India, he was leaving behind a team that was in a better shape than it had been when he inherited it. Though India won, during Kirsten’s tenure, a home series against Australia, away series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand (which came after 40 years), and above all the 2011 World Cup, besides achieving No 1 ranking in Tests and No 2 in ODIs, Kirsten’s contribution as coach should not be measured just in terms of percentage of wins and losses. Kirsten was credited with moulding the team into a fighting unit and establishing camaraderie in the team, besides helping the Indian cricketers improve their technique and overall performance. A happy MS Dhoni would go on record then to tell that Kirsten was “the best thing to happen to Indian cricket.”
To cut a long story short, when Fletcher assumed charge as the coach of Team India, all that he had to do was to live up to his reputation as the successful coach of England and build on the good work that his predecessor Kirsten had done with Team India — an ideal setting for an ideal coach. But that was not to be.
Now, more than a year and a half into his tenure as coach of India, Fletcher does not have much to show in terms of achievements. Under his stewardship, India has till now played 20 Tests, won six, lost 10, and drawn four. Of the 37 ODIs and 17 T20s that the team played during the corresponding period, it won 21 and nine respectively. However, more than the results, it is the dismal state of affairs in the team during Fletcher’s tenure that has brought him much opprobrium. Fletcher is seen as too old (64 years) to inspire confidence and as lacking the confidence and goodwill enjoyed by Kirsten and John Wright before him.
To be fair to Fletcher, coaching Team India is not a cinch. The sheer load of the expectations and the diverse pressure would weigh down even the best in the business. Given the average Indian cricket fans’ predisposition to expect instant results and penchant for idolising players, and the Indian cricket board’s avariciousness and tendency to play to the gallery, a coach has to perform a trapeze act while taking enough care not to step on the over-sized toes. That the batting mainstays of India, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, retired during Fletcher’s tenure leaving a void in the batting lineup has not helped Fletcher’s case either.
However, the BCCI is not going to take such a pragmatic view of things when Fletcher’s contract comes up for renewal in about three months from now. In all likelihood, Fletcher will be made the scapegoat and shown the door, and when that happens, not many will shed tears for a coach who lay low in a high-profile job.
Fletcher’s potential successor
That brings us to the question as to who should be appointed as the next coach of Team India. Already names are being bandied about, the prominent one being that of a former India captain — Sourav Ganguly.
Ganguly was easily one of the most successful and respected cricket captains of India. He was made captain when Indian cricket had hit the rock bottom mired in match-fixing scandals, and he justified the faith that the board and the selectors had reposed in him. Ganguly’s reputation as a go-getter, his in-your-face aggression, and his ability to recognise and nurture talent and get the best out of his players easily make him best suited for the role of Team India coach.
While the man in question Ganguly himself was evasive in his reply to the question whether he wants to be made the coach (“I wouldn’t say that I would not want to coach the Indian team, but currently, I haven’t given it much thought. Also, I don’t believe in thinking too far ahead. Taking things as it comes is how I like to live my life. You never know what lies in store in the future, so why think so much?”), the fact remains that Ganguly is someone who relishes challenges and would not be averse to the idea of taking on the mantle.
However, even if Ganguly throws his hat in the ring, it is anybody’s guess whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) mandarins would be enthusiastic about the idea. While Ganguly as coach can certainly help Team India rediscover its form with his no-nonsense approach, what may go against him is his past reputation for speaking his mind. If anything, Ganguly’s penchant for confrontations, his eagerness to wear his aggression on his sleeves, and his competitiveness that borders on brinkmanship might not make him BCCI’s natural choice for the position of team coach.
(Venkatesan Iyengar was a speedster who could swing the ball both ways. He captained his school team at the zonal and district levels. His boyhood dream was to open the bowling for Team India in the august company of his idol Kapil Dev. Even today the sight of Kapil makes him nostalgic)
