India is Dravid, Dravid is India!

By John Cheeran
India is Indira. Indira is India. That was the legendary slogan coined by the then Congress (I) secretary Dev Kant Barooah when Indira Gandhi ruled the nation in the 1970 and 80s.
Though Barooah was criticized roundly for displaying a shameless streak of sycophancy, the slogan echoed the reality of the Seventies bursting at its seams.
Coming to cricket, the most important subject in this nation of millions of struggling souls, one could say that India is Dravid, Dravid is India.
Yes, the new slogan for Indian cricket, or why we restrict to cricket, the new slogan for India, the nation, should be India is Dravid, Dravid is India.
Yesterday, when the nation was sleeping with a million inchoate dreams, Dravid’s India beat the West Indies by 49 runs at Sabina Park to win the fourth Test and the series.
That should rank as one of the finest moments in Indian cricket history. India, under the astute leadership of Rahul Dravid, has carved out the Test series after a hiatus of 35 years. It was in 1971 when Ajit Wadekar led India to its first series win in the West Indies, though Wadekar himself did not play any great role in that famous win.
Here things were absolutely different. Sabina Park will be remembered for the classicism of Dravid’s batsmanship. Take away Dravid from the Indian team, this Test would have finished on the first day itself, in favour of the West Indies.
It is not for nothing Dravid was declared man-of-the-match and man-of-the series. If ever these awards have gone to a deserving performer it is Indian skipper Dravid. Dravid himself has rated his first innings effort of 81, compiled from facing 215 balls and laced with 10 fours, on a first day wicket with Caribbean bowlers roaring in, as the most satisfying knock he has played in his illustrious career. Dravid again stood up for India in the second innings, an innings that resembled the first one. Dravid hit 68 in the second innings and displayed an urgency to get quick runs with the help of 12 boundaries.
What keeps Dravid going when worthies such as Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif flee from the scene and their responsibilities? It is nothing but supreme class and the sheer determination to excel. In cricket, a contribution becomes meaningful only if it helps the team to tackle an adversity or author a triumph. In the recent past Indian cricket has seen centuries, double centuries and triple centuries from many blades but not when the team required it most.
This great triumph, a triumph against insurmountable odds, has taken Dravid very, very close to immortality. A World Cup coronation next year, again in the Caribbeans, would be the final seal of approval.
The win at Sabina Park, though was scripted with bountiful contributions coming from bowlers Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth, was made possible only by skipper and batsman Dravid. And with this coruscating victory, Dravid has risen above all the false Gods in Indian cricket. Dravid has walked past Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and should I say a certain Sourav Ganguly, the biggest non-performing asset (NPA) of Indian cricket in recent times.
To understand the importance of the Sabina Park one has to consider a few things.
First and foremost, this sizzling triumph was achieved without Sachin Tendulkar. And, now other things. India had lost the one-day series to the West Indies after winning the first match in the series. Though the matches were very, very close affairs, the fact remains that India lost the series 1-4.
India came very, very close to winning the first three Tests – At Antigua, St Lucia, and St Kitts – the critique went that Dravid failed to apply the killer punch on all these occasions.When critics such as former Indian coach and medium pacer Madan Lal and my own favourite Sunil Gavaskar lead the assault, even the ever-so-cool Dravid gets irritated.
Dravid and coach Greg Chappell were criticized for a variety of things during this tour. For Leaving out Harbhajan, for ignoring Irfan Pathan, for sticking to Sreesanth, for not playing the fifth bowler, and finally for the rains in the Caribbeans!
Pressure was very much there as India went into the fourth and final Test.
Dravid is familiar with the pressure to win and it only inspires him to the special zone he occupied at the Sabina Park. But pressure that inane criticism generates can upset anyone who has India’s interests at his heart. Always.
I hope this victory, the first significant Test series win outside of the Indian subcontinent since India won in England in 1986, should silence those who found the apogee of leadership in that hollow man, Sourav Ganguly.