To the guy who gets India out of a jam

 

Considering that 36 cricketers have been there before him, playing 100 Tests may not be such a remarkable milestone for Rahul Dravid. But juxtapose this with some batting stats, and a fascinating story unfolds.

 

Only Brian Lara with 8833 runs had scored more than Dravid’s 8492 in 99 Tests. Unless Dravid scores a quadruple century at the Wankhede over the next five days, Lara’s record is safe, but those he has already upstaged at the 100 Test mark read as follows: Sunil Gavaskar (8479), Sachin Tendulkar (8405), Ricky Ponting (8253), Javed Miandad (7694), Allan Border (7670), Graham Gooch (7608), Geoff Boycott (7518), Inzamam-ul-Haq (7453), Viv Richards (7336), Colin Cowdrey (7044), David Gower (7000).

 

This is obviously not a comprehensive ready reckoner on cricket’s best batsmen. For instance Bradman, Hobbs, Hutton, Harvey, Hanif, the three Ws, Greg Chappell — to name a few — are not mentioned simply because they did not play 100 Tests. But these names only add more depth to the frame of reference in which Dravid should be assessed. The deduction thereafter is elementary: he must be an all-time great batsman.

 

Though he started off with 96 in his first innings, in his first few years in international cricket Dravid was always considered a ‘lesser’ talent than his peers Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly. He was not a stylist, he was not flamboyant, he was not aggressive, he was not a genius. If anything, he was sedate and solid, which are such unspectacular attributes that Dravid had to score runs by the ton to keep himself in favour with the public and selectors both.

 

Silly as it may seem now, Dravid was under scrutiny for well over three years after his debut. Everybody agreed that his technique was watertight and his temperament wonderful, but everybody wanted more from him. Tendulkar was the benchmark for Indian batsmen in the ’90s, and anybody who could not bat with the same panache was not good enough. Indeed, where one-day cricket is concerned, the wicket-keeping job Dravid did for almost two years came as a lifeline to retain his place in the team.

 

In the latter five years of his career, of course, most of the earlier assessments have been revised. His prolific run-getting made him not only India’s most dependable batsman, but for many critics, the best in the world. In tough situations, specially, he showed himself to be a cut above the rest. The sobriquet of The Wall, clichéd as it is, was most apt.

 

What makes Dravid such a successful and special cricketer is his sense of commitment and self-belief, I believe. He has driving ambition, but also the vision of a common goal for the team. In that sense, he has been spectacularly unselfish.

 

Interestingly, as captain he has shown himself to be amazingly unorthodox with a penchant for high risks, quite in contrast to his batting. He has experimented with players, the batting order, opened the innings himself, gone into Tests with five bowlers. Most believe that this is Greg Chappell’s doing, which I find unlikely given Dravid’s understanding of captaincy. What has obviously helped is that he thinks like an Aussie where his cricket is concerned.

 

Captaincy is about judgment of players, pitches and match situations, but ultimately it is about an individual’s self-belief and the ability to raise his own and the team’s performance. In this, Dravid has been exemplary. In tight situations, the dressing room invariably looks to the captain for support, inspiration, direction. If the skipper is funk, unconcerned or devil-may-care, the dressing room can swiftly disintegrate.

 

It is of course too early to judge whether he will be India’s best captain ever. But poised for his 100th Test, there isn’t a vestige of doubt where he stands as a batsman. Check out the stats.

 

Speak to his teammates. Speak to his opponents. They all tell the same story.