Indian cricketers: condemned to win all the time!

By John Cheeran
Indian captain Rahul Dravid’s message to the nation from Cape Town, South Africa, may not become as famous as that of Abraham Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg, but it will resonate in the playing fields and the BCCI corridors for a long time to come for the blunt edge of those words.
That was an honest and sincere captain trying to draw the bigger picture for his and his team’s critics and fans.
First and foremost, Dravid has said that no one from the BCCI has talked to him in the aftermath of Durban defeat.
So much for Sharad Pawar’s famous statement the other day of deputing the National Selection Committee Chairman Dilip Vengsarkar to convey nation’s distress to the Indian cricketers.
It is interesting to find out what goes through the beleaguered Indian captain’s mind. "My team is not pretty aware of what is happening in India. We're very much focused on our cricket. It's a country of extreme reactions and extreme emotions. We're trying to play good cricket. We know we can play better and we're focused on trying to put up a better performance on tour. We're not aware or worried about what's happening back home.
"We're always feeling the pressure to win, but that does not change the situation. We need to win after that loss and we needed to win before that. We need to win all the time."
Dravid and his mates are condemned to win all the time, a prospect that can be terifying at times.
I haven’t heard, hitherto, an Indian captain speak with such clarity of thought and purpose in the modern era. India’s legendary captains such as Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavsakar and Kapil Dev played their cricket before the kind of media explosion that happened with 24x7 television channels scrambling for stories, real and imagined.
Dravid made it clear in Cape Town that he can be bothered about only the things that happen on the ground.
"Can I be worried about something which I cannot control?" Dravid asks regarding the hungama in India, created by former cricketers and ill-informed politicians.
"Somebody's going to make a comment and someone's going to react. We're all entitled to our opinions, and I'm just as entitled not to react."
The point skipper Dravid made in Cape Town that criticism does not motivate a player is interesting.
Let me quote Dravid again. "I don't think that (criticism) should be a motivating factor for anyone. It has never been for me. Every time you walk out to play for India, you should be proud enough to go out there and compete. You might not always do well and succeed.
"You shouldn't need anything other than the fact that you're playing for your country to motivate you. I'm pretty confident that my boys have really worked hard, irrespective of the results. They've shown enthusiasm, energy and a lot of desire to get things better.
"I've withstood a lot of criticism as a batsman," Dravid points out."I've been out of the team for a year. I was going through a period in 2001 and 2002 where I attracted a lot of criticism. So I've had my share. It's not always been smooth sailing as a player. It's no different [as captain]. It's not hard to accept as long as you know you are doing your best and trying to get the best out of your players.
"You're going to make mistakes, and things won't work out as planned. You have to accept that some amount of criticism is justified, and some of it is obviously over the top as well. There's only so much you can do as a player or a captain. You have to take some of the criticism with a pinch of salt."
Skipper Dravid has been defending the young players in the side all the time. But with the temperature rising inside the dressing room he makes it pretty clear that those who do not grab their chances will have to make way for others. "If you fail consistently at this level, then the decision will have to be taken by the selectors. Some will be better off going back to domestic cricket.
"Some of these guys have been through that. It happens constantly. You can't put a number to it, but there does come a time you have to reassess and look at your game. Probably with the exception of Sachin Tendulkar, everyone in this team has gone back to domestic cricket, and come back a better cricketer for it. And sometimes, they haven't come back."
Yes, sometimes they never come back. Ask Sourav Ganguly.
So, boys seize your chances at Cape Town today.