Weekly Sports Newsletter: Dravid, Pujara and the dying artwork of batting time

There’s a priceless outdated nugget involving Rahul Dravid from Steve Waugh’s farewell sequence in 2003 that must be pulled out of the vault. At Adelaide, after his epic 233 within the first innings, Dravid would additionally hit the successful runs within the second – Stuart MacGill’s rank unhealthy ball was despatched to the fence with contempt. It was India’s first win Down Under in 23 years. The visuals of Dravid swatting the ball to the quilt boundary, elevating his gloved palms and planting a kiss on his outdated navy blue India cap would get branded on the nation’s retina ceaselessly.
What the followers following the sport on tv didn’t see was the marble-faced Waugh’s considerate gesture. The Aussie nice, a person of few feelings, would retrieve the ball from the drain across the boundary and hand it over to Dravid. For the lovers of symbolism this wasn’t merely an act of sportsmanship, it was the passing of baton between two grasp practitioners of the endangered artwork of batting time.
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About a decade later, in January of 2012, Dravid would grasp his boots for good. Later that yr, India would punt on a teenager with old-school batting rules to interchange him at No.3. Cheteshwar Pujara, sandwiched between Gambhir, Sehwag and Tendulkar Kohli, would rating 159. He batted for six hours and confronted 300 plus balls. The baton that Dravid acquired from Waugh was handed on to Pujara.
These have been resilient males with gravitas. They confirmed the world that Test matches couldn’t all the time be swayed by scoring shortly and giving bowlers sufficient time to take 20 wickets. They may also be determined by pacing the innings completely to close out the opposition from the sport and never giving them time to bounce again.
After watching them bat by way of the day, you may not keep in mind the strokes that they had performed however stroll out of the stadium feeling the burden of their innings. They didn’t put on braveness on their sleeve, it was hidden within the storyline of their draining innings. They weren’t your ‘busy’ cricketers with quick twitch muscular tissues and six-packs. As English cricketer and author Ed Smith stated on Dravid’s retirement, “he was cricketer first, athlete second”.
Another decade is about to fade away. Pujara’s Test depend is within the 90s, and he’s nervous. These days he traits at any time when he will get out. Regularly hyphenated with the opposite 33-year-old out-of-form crew mate Ajinkya Rahane, his place within the facet is being consistently questioned. Pujara and Rahane are very completely different gamers however nuance isn’t a trait related to arm-chair critics with unverified nameless social media accounts.
Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni (File Photo/BCCI)
Rahane was as soon as an authorized all-format participant. Pujara, like Dravid earlier than him, by no means appeared comfortable in color clothes. They appeared to be born to bat in whites. Reporters over time have leaned on strike charges to criticise them. On the terraces, the T20 followers, feeling misplaced at a Test venue, have dismissed them by calling them “tuk, tuk”. There is extra Dravid in Pujara than Rahane. Though, the comparability comes with the disclaimer: Both haven’t fairly reached the lofty heights achieved by India’s all-time nice.
Before the current Mumbai Test, Pujara had performed 91 Tests, scoring 6542 runs at a mean of 45.11. He has scored 8 away tons. In the identical variety of Tests, Dravid had extra runs (7871) however a decrease common (42.18). He was a yr youthful too. Rahane, in the meantime, has performed 79 Tests, scored 4795 runs and has a mean of 39.30.
But to face subsequent to Dravid, it’s worthwhile to have hung out on the pitch, confronted an unreal variety of balls. The holder of the back-breaking report of going through most balls, 31258, Dravid, in 91 Tests, had handled 18660 balls. Pujara’s corresponding determine is 14778. Unimaginably excessive however not fairly Dravid.
The baton that Rahul Dravid acquired from Waugh was handed on to Cheteshwar Pujara. (AP/FILE)
But within the current crew, his efficiency is unmatched. If away-wins have been the large focus for the crew within the Virat Kohli period, Pujara’s contribution to the trigger has been immense. He has extra tons and higher common than Kohli in India’s victories on overseas soil. The crowning glory of Kohli-Shastri was the first-ever sequence win in Australia. Pujara with 3 ton in 4 Tests was Man of the Series. If Dravid gained a historic Test for India, Pujara acquired them a sequence.
Over the years Dravid has had a particular eye on Pujara. He first noticed his inheritor obvious a lot earlier than he turned his Team India dressing room mate. While struggling to face out on the home circuit, Pujara was as soon as taking part in in Bangalore for his long-time employers, Indian Oil Company. Dravid, India captain on the time, was on the similar floor to coach. He preferred what he noticed. Pujara had made him curious. He ended up making inquiries. After his jog, he would name a high cricket official from the younger batsman’s dwelling affiliation and ask him to maintain him. This different time, when taking part in towards Pujara’s state crew Saurashtra, Dravid requested the rival captain to play the rookie batsman at No.3. Grooming younger cricketers comes naturally to Dravid, a lot earlier than he turned the under-19 coach post-retirement.
Ironically, simply when Dravid was appointed India’s head coach , the refrain about dropping two Test specialists, Rahane and Pujara, acquired louder. Reports say that there’s a buzz within the cricket circles that the 2 will make the lower for the upcoming tour to South Africa however their inclusion comes with a situation. In case they fail to make a major contribution to the crew’s trigger on this essential away tour, they may get dropped. Abhishek Purohit’s Test match preview provides a well timed perspective to the favored ‘sack them’ narrative.
Unlike previously, when Dravid was an energetic cricketer, the choice makers don’t have a lot persistence with growing older cricketers who take their very own candy time to attain runs. This isn’t a lament however an inevitability of the sport’s evolution. Shreyas Iyer and Surya Kumar Yadav, on the again of glowing IPL performances, have gotten into the Test squad. Iyer’s success in his first Test can probably see a mass exodus from shortest to the longest format. Understandably, the transition can kick in a lot earlier than it ought to be ideally scheduled.
Indian cricket coach Rahul Dravid trains with gamers. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
The upcoming tour of South Africa might see a major shift. The last-of-a-kind of the true Test specialist Pujara will as soon as once more be on tenterhooks. Though, with Dravid as the top coach, Pujara can be reassured. He is aware of he has a believer among the many decision-makers. He can count on to get a good deal. But if his hunch continues, Dravid may need to supervise the burial of the batting artwork he so ardently pursued and marketed all his life.
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Sandeep DwivediNational Sports Editor