Amid pressure to deliver and intense scrutiny over his performance, Dravid’s century was a defining innings in more ways than one
ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2010These are not easy times to be Rahul Dravid. In his previous innings, on homesoil in Bangalore, he walked out to replace the man who many see as hiseventual successor. Cheteshwar Pujara had batted with tremendous poise andfluency for 72 and the cheers for Dravid mingled with the applause for afuture star. Murali Vijay, who made a hundred in the first innings of thatgame, had also shown himself to be someone capable of filling any breachin the top three.Every time Dravid fails from here on, there will be clarion calls foryouth. Even when he succeeds, there will be those who say that hispresence at No.3 isn’t beneficial for the long-term health of Indiancricket. In a country where those in their late 20s like Yuvraj Singh andMohammad Kaif are considered past it, what chance does asoon-to-be-38-year-old have?This century, his 30th, won’t feature in the highlights reels of hiscareer. The opposition wasn’t the most taxing and the pitch, thoughtwo-paced, was little more than benign. But for a man who has struggledsince two wonderful stroke-filled hundreds against Sri Lanka at the end oflast year, this was a defining innings in more ways than one.In his previous Ahmedabad appearance, he had taken India from 32 for 4 toover 400 with a 177 that was as full of intent as any innings he had everplayed. This was a very different knock. With Sehwag playing as is hiswont, even on a pitch where the ball didn’t come on as you’d expect on theopening day of a game, he was becalmed for long periods early on. He faced105 balls for his first 17 runs, and was fortunate when Gareth Hopkinsfailed to hold on to a bottom edge off Jesse Ryder when he had just 28.But in the hour before tea, something changed. The feet started to movemore decisively, and the strokes that had previously found the inner ringstarted to streak away through the gaps. In a passage of play where Indiascored 69 runs, Dravid made 44 of them. By the time the bat was raised forthe hundred that took him past the greatest No.3 of them all, Sir DonaldBradman, he had made 83 from just 111 deliveries. With Sehwag slowing downas a result of a slight jarring of the knee, it was just what India neededto keep the pressure on.Dravid would be the first to admit that he isn’t as prolific as he oncewas. But leaving aside the statistical anomaly that was Bradman, the lawof diminishing returns has affected the greatest of No.3s. Being the pivotof the batting order comes with its own pressures, and unlike those whobat lower down the order, there’s no hiding from the dangers of the newball.Viv Richards averaged 55.18 with 15 centuries after his first 60 Tests. Inhis next 61, he made nine more hundreds, but the average dipped to 50.23.Ricky Ponting has suffered similarly. When Shane Warne and Glenn McGrathbrought the curtain down on a golden generation with a 5-0 Ashes whitewashin Sydney, Ponting was averaging 59.29 with 33 hundreds. In 38 gamessince, he has made six centuries, but the mean has dipped to 54.68.In Dravid’s case, he ended the tour of the Caribbean in 2006 with twomasterful half-centuries at Sabina Park, on a spiteful pitch where evenBrian Lara was made to look ordinary. At that stage, 104 Tests into hiscareer, he averaged 58.75 with 23 hundreds. In 41 matches since then, hehas made seven centuries and 13 other scores in excess of 50. But theaverage is 39.65, largely a result of the failure to play the monumentalinnings that were once his forte. Only once, at Motera last year, has hegone past 150.Something about batting with Sehwag brings out the best in him though. Insome ways, as bizarre as it may sound, they are birds of a feather. Thetempos may be very different but both trust in the method that hasbrought them so many runs. Sehwag, who has now added 3038 runs with Dravid(average of 63.29) from 50 innings, said as much after the day’s play.”Rahul takes his time when he is batting,” he said. “He is batting in hisown style and I bat the way I want to. It’s easier. We never discuss stufflike you should score fast or slow. He bats the way he knows and I bat theway I know.”Even when batting as fluently as he did in Ahmedabad last year, Dravid hasnever forced the issue with unnecessary innovations or improvisation. Inthat sense, he and Jacques Kallis remain a last tenuous link to the oldways of Test-match batsmanship.Another missed catch – again Hopkins, but this time off Jeetan Patel -gave him a reprieve on 92, and there was more than a hint of fatigueabout the shot that cost him his wicket with the close of play in sight.The snipers may have been temporarily deprived of ammunition, but yetagain the big innings had eluded him.How much longer can he go on? South Africa lie in wait at the end of theyear, the pace and swing of Dale Steyn and the height and hustle of MorneMorkel. More importantly, how do the selectors view Indian cricket’sfuture? If Pujara and Vijay are considered ready, would a tour of theCaribbean, against a team that’s been in disarray for years, be a goodplace to blood them? Will Dravid walk of his own volition?In some cases, form hasn’t always been the prime consideration for movinga player on. Steve Waugh, another with resolve hewn from granite, averaged76.61 in a final year bookended by Sydney Tests. Yet, with Michael Clarkewaiting in the wings, it was decided that he needed to move on. Waughwould have loved another crack at India in India, but it was AdamGilchrist and Ponting that led Australia as the final frontier was finallysurpassed less than a year later.
