Not many days ago,the person mightily responsible for an Indian victory in a test series on English soil after more than 21 years,resigned abruptly from one the most coveted positions in a sport which truly runs in the blood of every Indian.The reason that the man stated was he needed to concentrate more on his batting(although speculations are rife about the real reason) .This,after a test series win which most Indian captains would have killed for.
Rahul Dravid resigned from captaincy amid much controversy only because nobody really expected him to or simply because nobody wanted him to.Merely a month after his shocking decision "The Wall" as many people fondly refer to him as,was 'rested' from the Indian Cricket Team for the first two ODIs against a country against whom he has a record which is more than enviable.
The word "rested" is terribly dangerous at least for an Indian camp as when the last time this word was used for any prominent player,one of the most prolific captains that the country had ever seen was rested for more than a year and a half.Already,on the other side of 30,he doesn't even have any other ability(apart from his brilliance in batting) on the base of which he could win back his place in the national side unlike Ganguly or even Tendulkar.His other special skill,his keeping is also of little use as the current captain of the team is doing a fine job of it. It is also a matter of disdain that when asked about the decision,the chair person of the selection committee,Dilip Vengsarkar had to put it this way to add insult to injury."MS Dhoni,Yuvraj,and Gautam gambhir are the middle order batsmen of today and we have Manoj Tiwari,Raina and Rohit Sharma waiting in the wings.So we have a lot of options".He was rightly and very deservingly barred from talking to the media and publishing columns after the incident.
If India really has started having a lot of options,would it be right to drop a world class player from the playing eleven only because of a string of poor scores in one series?If so,why was Virender Sehwag suddenly recalled into the national side after sitting in the sidelines for more than 6 months?If he indeed was called back only on the merit of past records against one particular nation,as there just isn't another plausible reason coming to mind,why would it be a sane option to drop a player who has admirable statistics against all test playing countries?Specifically speaking,Dravid has close to 2000 runs with more than 1800 of them in only 54 innings against Pakistan at an average of almost 36.Whereas,in contrast Sehwag,in only 20 innings against the same country has scored 650 runs at an average of 32.55.
A comparison of Sehwag with the stalwart would be unfair but the question that the BCCI hasn't answered or doesn't have an answer to is what is the logic behind dropping the pillar of the Indian batting line-up for merely having a few bad outings?The point of being grateful would be too much to ask for in this ruthless game played by the strongest of men with iron clad nerves. But doesn't a man who has never been dropped for more than a decade in any format of the game for any considerable amount of time deserve at least a few more outings to prove his worth,which undeniably,even to the knowledge of the committee would be priceless?
Younus Khan stated in a recent press meet,"Rahul Dravid is a class act.The Pendulum definitely swings in our favour by his exclusion.The first two matches of any series are always important. His absence will make a difference to our attitude because he is a world class player and one of the best in the world".
Losing to Australia at home is one thing.Losing to Pakistan in a high pressure situation with the absence of the coolest head in the side is quite another.
Too bad the selectors didn't seem to think of that while "drafting".
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