A time to admire Dravid's genius

By John Cheeran
Rahul Dravid, I must say, is a genius.
He is a quality batsman, and more than that he is a brave man.
Not just in Lahore, 2006, but on various other stages Dravid had showed guts and decision-making ability.
In 2003 at Multan, Dravid surprised entire India by closing the team's innings with Sachin Tendulkar on the verge of a double century. That was an amazing act that shook the Tendulkar cult in India.
Now in the first Test of another nerve-wracking Pakistan series, Dravid took another crucial decision. Bold one that is. Dravid ventured to open the innings when Sourav Ganguly refused to face fresh Pakistani fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Naved-ul-Hassan (according to reliable reports, except the Calcutta riffraff).
The BCCI's diktat to Team India management to carry the Ganguly burden at the cost of Wasim Jaffer and Gautam Gambhir had triggered a crisis in the beginning.
Dravid then converted the crisis situation into an opportunity. Ganguly's reluctance to open the batting in Test cricket is no secret; when he was the captain and a vacancy arose at the top, he tried out such varied middle and lower-order batsmen as Dravid and V V S Laxman, Hemang Badani and DeepDasgupta, Yuvraj Singh and Parthiv Patel.
Ganguly's only outing as a Test opener came in the Mumbai Test against Sri Lanka in December 1997, when he followed up his first-innings 173 batting at number three by making 11 in the second essay when he opened the innings.
Dravid has given Ganguly a lesson in how to open the innings under pressure, by his own example. His 21st Test century will be remembered for a long time that it might have as well buried Ganguly, the batsman.
I'm given to understand that as the Test panned out Ganguly was relishing to make some 30-odd runs on this flat track so that his cronies can raise their pitch in West Bengal for his stay in the team.
And to the chagrin of the rabble rousers in Calcutta, Dravid and vice captainVirender Sehwag combined so well to deny Ganguly a golden chance to score some runs and there by frustrate the Lord Irritant.
There cannot be a more refined revenge in sport. Dravid wins all points for stepping into open as Ganguly chickened out. And by remaining unbeaten after scoring a flawless century Dravid denied Ganguly any chance of a middle order knock.
I can imagine how Ganguly must be ruing the missed chance to open in Lahore.
Poojas and yagnas in Calcutta must go on. Keep performing.