Giving belief, coach Dravid mantra
NEW DELHI: Articulate and oozing cricketing wisdom, the easiest path to tread for Rahul Dravid after retirement in 2011 would have been the TV commentators’ box. But Dravid has seldom been known to take the easy route. His hard work and unassuming approach added steel to the India batting for around 15 years. And his willingness to keep wicket to become a regular in the ODI team provided the side great flexibility.
Thus India’s second-highest Test run-getter taking up the less glamorous role as junior coach in June 2015 was in keeping with Dravid’s approach to the game.
India’s emerging talent couldn’t have asked for anything better. Dravid the thinker shone in the Bradman lecture – in his last Australia tour in 2011-12. And Kevin Pietersen paid tribute to Dravid’s coaching and motivational skills two years later in his autobiography ‘KP’.
Pietersen wrote: “Rahul was a great and heroic batsman in his day. He is also a genius at dealing with spinners. Our conversations and e-mails were a private masterclass from a genuine guru. Rahul improved my cricket and helped me develop the way I think about the game. His generosity will stay with me always.”
It is that willingness to share, take the responsibility to guide youngsters and give them confidence that has stood out with Dravid the coach. He has insisted on his wards expressing themselves, and each one has acknowledged his contribution.
Sanju Samson swears by Dravid, who guided him at Rajasthan Royals and Daredevils, and backed him through his tough times last year. Hardik Pandya spoke how Dravid on the India A tour of Australia in 2016 helped transform his game.
While the BCCI has shown deference to Dravid’s stature, he has produced a blueprint to guide the country’s talent. He is clear a player can appear in only one U-19 World Cup, ensuring a fresh group keeps coming through.
He made it clear that junior cricket was to hone skill, not enhance fitness based on Yo-yo tests. The focus of India A would be to produce the kind of performance that will help push for an India team spot. Cheteshwar Pujara acknowledged how, down in the dumps before the 2015 Sri Lanka tour, playing for India A with Dravid as coach helped him regain confidence that led to his brilliant 145 in Colombo.
Dravid’s communication skills have been questioned when he was skipper. That despite his big hand as stand-in skipper in the historic 2004 Test series win in Pakistan, besides success in England and the West Indies. But one image that blew to bits such an impression was the U-19 World Cup squad in New Zealand pasting their coach’s face with the cake cut to mark his 45th birthday. A win over Australia in the final, though, will be a bigger, and perfect, birthday present for Dravid. The two most important words in cricket used to be ‘out’ and ‘not out’. After the IPL auction they have changed to ‘sold’ and ‘unsold’.
A player auction is a team selection process, only magnificently scaled up.
When India play, MSK Prasad sits with two colleagues behind closed doors to decide the team.
When franchises play, proceedings unfold before a live TV audience and Preity Zinta has Virender Sehwag and half a dozen others by her side. Together they buy players to form a squad.
In both cases, the basics of player selection are same. Every team needs the right mix of batsmen and bowlers with different skill sets. For T20, you shop carefully for all-rounders, finishers and death-over experts.
Considering IPL involves 14 matches per team, you factor in injuries, fatigue, loss of form