Dravid’s agenda for the New Year

By John Cheeran
Rahul Dravid has set his agenda for the New Year in clear-cut terms.
He has come out boldly saying that he is not a puppet in the hands of all-powerful coach Greg Chappell, as a certain section in the media would like us to believe.
Dravid has asserted that he has his say in the decision-making process.
And Dravid, quickly, has pointed out that he won’t let anyone drive a wedge between captain and coach.
Dravid said in an interview to Cricinfo magazine that coach Greg Chappell is, contrary to popular perceptions, no despot.
“I've not found him domineering at all,'' he said. “Chappell has been more than willing to listen to my ideas and my thoughts and I get a very good say. At the end of the day I think he believes that a captain must get what he wants. In fact, in a lot of ways we do a lot of things in my way,'' Dravid added.
He also played down the apprehension among part of Team India regarding Chappell. And another important thing in Dravid’s agenda is this.
Dravid has made it clear that he would not like to have certain players in his side. “You don't want people whose own insecurities, whose own problems and whose own fears drag everyone else down. That can be a big dampener in teams,'' he said.
Dravid, by virtue of shouldering the burden of captaincy, is justified in saying that. Carrying extra baggage on a critical tour like Pakistan will backfire. And selectors and Super Selector Sharad Pawar has not given him any choice in this regard.
“I want to say that at this level I shouldn't need to motivate anyone. If I'm needing to motivate an international cricketer then there's something wrong actually. The challenge is to not de-motivate anyone.''
Well said, Dravid.