Skipper Dravid’s masterstroke

By John Cheeran
I’m disappointed by skipper Rahul Dravid’s decision to take rest during the Guwahatti and Jamshedpur one-dayers against England.
Yes, it shows the confidence of a skipper who has completed his mission of humbling the English. It also shows skipper’s faith in his mates to carry on with his ideas.
Dravid is having fun both as skipper and batsman. Some of his tactics have paid rich dividends for Team India. The way Dravid handled the side in Kochi illustrates his leadership skills and cricketing nous.
Dravid’s Power Play left England totally breathless in Kochi at a crucial time of their innings. Dravid applied second Power Play only in 29th over, there by denying England batsmen the freedom to step up the scoring, when they desired.
As is their wont, Arun Lal and Nasser Hussain doubted the wisdom of Dravid delaying the Power Play. They predicted a flood of runs sweeping Team India to the nearby Arabian Sea. But as things turned out, once again, these TV loud mouths were proved wrong.
Most of our experts are unable to go against the grain. Being bold means you have to be highly individualistic and take decisions based on the NOW rather than the past.
Batting first after winning toss in the Mumbai Test was a bold and aggressive move though the cricketing riff-raff, including Geoff Boycott, termed it as a colossal blunder.
It is in this backdrop that I prefer to enjoy Dravid leading from the front against England to complete a 7-0 brown wash or what can be termed, an India Wash.
Also, skipper is in great touch with bat, has succeeded in his usual No.3 slot as well as an opener. This, indeed, was a great time to carry his good form to rattle off some more runs against a demoralized bowling attack.
But it goes to the credit of a selfless Dravid that he has decided to take it easy for two matches letting Virender Sehwag rediscover himself as a leader and opener.
By staying away Dravid paves the way for the debut of young opener Robin Uthappa. Skipper’s move will also give a beleaguered Mohammad Kaif sufficient time to kick-start his career.
If there is one man in India who will be upset by all these tactical positioning, I will not name him.
After all what name you can give frustration, other than Ganguly!