In the Spirit of Cricket

‘Yeah mate, that looks four I tell ya; let’s get off and grab our cup of tea!’

It did not for once ring a ‘Bell’ to Mr Ian that you cannot take anything for granted until a delivery is legally dead in cricket. After having played close to 200 international games (and may be 500 including first class), you call it a ‘novice’ mistake; excellent!

There is little doubt that he was out, technically, but Ian Bell couldn’t believe that he was out in actuality. He did start off with the fourth run when he looked and jogged towards the non-strikers end, and then assumed its four or felt ‘lets go take tea anyways’, just continued to walk off.

Face it, what he did was nothing short of foolishness, half the English commentators and former players believed that he was out and that’s how it should stay. After all, you cannot have room for foolishness in professional sport. And if it was allowed, then players like Sourav Ganguly, who rarely dragged is bat into the crease while running, should have been allowed to make a lot more runs in his career.

India on the other hand has been victim of such foolishness and unsporting behaviour for a better part of their cricketing career. Not wasting time on a very elaborate list, the most recent one was Laxman’s dismissal when get got stumped off Chanderpaul in the Test series against the West Indies. A quick flashback – Laxman played and missed and was well within the crease but very unknowingly had his backfoot in the air for a fraction – and viola – he was gone and it stayed that way!

No spirit of cricket came in there or the many instances when batsmen collided with bowlers, didn’t make it to the crease and got run out. There have been exceptions when Hansie Cronje of South Africa reversed his decision, but there may have been some other reasons behind it.

It was very surprising that Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower actually requested Dhoni for a reconsideration. What Dhoni and India did was sporting and simply best to avoid further controversies. Peer pressure or gut feel, we wouldn’t know.

Wonder what the outcome would be if the same incident happened but instead of Bell, it was Tendulkar or Dravid who were on the receiving end – would Strauss be that generous? Or what would the reaction be, if the same Bell incident happened but the venue was in India – would Dhoni have still reversed his decision?

That’s why for me, it is just inconsistent and situational. The only undoubted spirit in cricket that always exists is the alcohol in the English stands!

Another Brick from The Wall

Rahul Dravid recently notched up his 33rd and 1st hundred at Lord’s. However, once again like on most other occasions, it was overshadowed by the fact that Tendulkar was lining up for his hundredth 100 and also because in the end he was the lone solder (with Laxman and Raina in the end) fighting in the eventual Indian defeat.

A brilliant 95 had gone unheard and unseen in Ganguly's gorgeous 120, both of whom debuted in the same game at Lord's.

An outstanding '99 World Cup went in vain and forgotten post India's exit (effectively from Zimbabwe's hands).

His supreme ODI knocks that came in that World Cup also took a backseat because Tendulkar and Ganguly too scored in those respective matches.

The unforgettable stand between Laxman and him will always highlight Laxman's brilliant 280.

His extra effort for the team by playing a keeper (with a batting average of ~44.25 in 70+ matches is probably the best for an Indian keeper after MSD) even in the '03 World Cup to allow India another batsmen/bowler, was sadly overshadowed by he not being good enough for the format (even though he was brisk during this phase and not bad overall either).

His brilliance in both innings at Adelaide were marred by the fact that we couldn't win the series when we had a good chance.

While he was still good with the bat, he was dropped post the 2007 World Cup, despite playing a super innings in a game where almost everyone else failed.

The first (and still probably the only) batsmen to have scored a 100 against all test teams, Rahul ‘The Wall Dravid’ has stood tall and conquered them all. 

Rahul Dravid stands at being the worlds second highest run getter and the worlds highest run getting in the fourth innings.

While most other big-named batsmen have opted and put their foot down on where they would be batting (and not changing their batting position for the team’s sake), the conventionally one-down Rahul Dravid has done it all – opening, middle order and lower middle order depending on the situation and preference and form of other players. 

The list can go on!

Yet today, with all those marathon innings and desperate saves, he doesn’t find a mention in anyone’s list of a Test Dream Team 11. While stats are a great way to say how an individual has done, they are never able to speak how much an individual has helped his team and other individuals. Yes, Dravid has been guilty of some ‘boring’ batting where he scored a 30 of 100 balls and worse, got out thereafter. However, what’s probably missed are the times that ‘boring’ batting, which may have started at 10/1, have been solid defence shielding the batting to come.

Very quietly, Rahul Dravid has simply gone about doing his job for the past 15 years; away from all controversies but also away from most of the limelight!

And that's the sad part – which is probably why he is not adored as much as he should!