May the force be with you, Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid headed the National Cricket Academy for young cricketers and coached the India Under-19 and India A teams. Now he has the chance to shape a senior men’s team for the next decade. (Illustration by Suneesh K.)

Every cricket lover seems to have welcomed the appointment of Rahul Dravid as coach of the Indian team. This is hardly surprising. Not only is he one of the greatest batsmen ever to have played for India, he has been universally admired for his commitment, steadfastness and a quiet grace both on and off the field.

He commands enormous respect and no one has ever accused him of any petty politics, the bane of Indian cricket.

I have met Rahul Dravid only once, at a dinner at a mutual acquaintance’s home in Kolkata in the early 2000s. He mentioned that every time he is in England, one of the first things he does is to go to a few favourite London bookshops and stock up. ‘Why don’t you write?’ I asked. ‘I am sure lots and lots of people would love to read you.’

Dravid’s reply gave me a glimpse of something core to the sort of man he is. ‘Whenever I think of writing, I think of writers like Christopher Martin-Jenkins and Scyld Berry, and I know that I can never be as good as them,’ he said. ‘So I’d rather read. If I do decide to write one day, I feel I’ll have to practice quite a bit.’ In every field of activity, he seemed to have set his own high standards of excellence and before he tried, he needed to believe that he would be able to attain them; otherwise, he would be wasting everyone’s time. This was not ego, it was humility and the refusal to treat any endeavour lightly.

He takes charge at a crucial time in Indian cricket. The public mood has turned nasty. One can argue that this is not entirely fair, but then the Indian fan demands satisfaction for all the investment—time, money and emotions—that he makes in the players. If in the T20 World Cup, India is humiliated in both the matches it played against top-rung teams in the league stage, the fan feels he is justified in asking what the hell is going on.

Given the instant fame and huge money that an Indian player gains from cricketing success, it almost stands to reason that condemnation also would be quick. Memory too is short. With Ravi Shastri as coach and Virat Kohli as captain, India has won two Test series in Australia, leads 2-1 in England with one Test left, has won everything at home and reached at least the semi-finals of the seven ICC tournaments before the T20 World Cup at UAE.

Yet the team has also been marked by strange debacles. In December last year, it was inexplicably all out for a worst-ever score of 36 at Adelaide. It then came back strongly and won two Tests and the series, but with Ajinkya Rahane as captain—Kohli had returned home to attend the birth of his daughter.

A few months ago in England, after winning the Lord’s Test fairly easily, India collapsed at Headingley and lost by an innings. It then again looked a different team at the Oval and won handsomely.

Dravid comes in right when Indian cricket appears in need of some calm logical longview. Given the hectic schedules, our leading international batsmen and bowlers may only have a few years of top-class cricket left in them. Yet with every season, India is also throwing up more talented players than ever before. No one possibly knows these men better than Dravid, who has headed the National Cricket Academy for young cricketers and coached the India Under-19 and India A teams.

Now he may have the chance to shape a senior men’s team for the next decade, the way Sourav Ganguly did as captain in the early 2000s. The task requires both urgency and patience, and a fine balancing of short-term goals with a long-term perspective.

The first steps he and the selection committee have taken indicate that there has been some serious introspection. The teams have been announced for the T20 home series against New Zealand that starts next week and the first Test. A few stalwarts have been rested, a few laggards dropped and several young guns who have performed well in the domestic season and the Indian Premier League have come in. A couple of players who were mysteriously left out of the T20 World Cup team are back.

India will be playing at home now for quite a few months, with West Indies, Sri Lanka and South Africa set to visit next year. This should give the selectors and coach enough time to build the right teams for the next T20 World Cup and the 2023 50-over World Cup.

Also read: T20 World Cup 2021 | Is the IPL hurting India’s limited-overs performance?

A very important strength that Dravid brings to the job is that no one has ever doubted either his integrity or his courage of conviction. In many walks of life, and certainly in sports, perhaps nothing defines a man better than when and how he decides to walk away. Dravid quit the India captaincy rather than compromise his principles and he retired from international cricket with a grace and maturity that have been rare in Indian cricket.

In his new job, he will of course be carrying an enormous burden of expectations. But that is nothing new for him. He has borne that load almost throughout his playing career. And very often delivered more than Indian cricket lovers had hoped for. In fact, one cannot think of any coach of the Indian team who has come in with so much goodwill and so much of the people’s trust. May the Force be with him.