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equatorRahul Dravid was so happy with my piece on him for cricinfo he cashed in again today.
Stuart Clark was so unhappy that i said his career was over on TWC, he has been telling everyone it isn’t since.
And in more important news, I am thinking of changing how I bowl legspin.
Oh, and while I am writing this link heavy post I might as well congratulate Tasmania’s Smooth Eddie Cowan for this double hundred today. Clearly he was inspired by Sehwag, even if he didn’t know it.
I read your article about Dravid in Cricinfo, I definitely share the same feeling, and here i want to add two class innings of world cup 2003, one against sri lanka where he held a 318 runs partnership with Ganguly (It’s always remembered as Saurav’s great inning as he scored 183) and second against Kenya where he was involved in a 237 runs partnership with Sachin (Again Sachin’s always remembered for his world cup contribution). In both innings he gave the helping hand and without him It was tough for Sourav to score that 183 and tougher for sachin to provide India a victory( we all are familiar with the fact that sachin’s hundred has failed many times in getting India the victory.)
Pardon me it was 1999 world cup.
I was just interested jrod, what do you think of dravid? do you think its his own fault for not grabbing the spotlight more often? I think his choice to be inconspicuous off the field has affected people’s perception of him as a cricketer. I definitely think he deserves better. His 177 was good watching, no?
Sehwag’s century was absolutely brilliant today. No one will remember Dravid’s innings.
In your cricinfo article on Dravid, the photograph was the highlight.
12th Man´s last blog ..Is Harbhajan Singh all we have got?
12th, that photo was good, but cricinfo deserve a gold star for this photo and article combination.
Jrod, what you have written about Dravid is what I have felt for last so many years. This is the guy who is most unassuming, hard core team man with absolute commitment to team’s cause but with least credit. The ‘99 WC examples that Shwetank gave definitely come to mind apart from Kolkata partnership with Laxman. Few more that I can recollect are:
1. Century in Headingley in 2002 when sachin scored a ton as well.
2. His innings in WC 2003 game against Pak after Sachin scored a brilliant 98. Don’t forget Sachin got out when India still needed almost 100 to win which might not have been possible in that pressure.
3. He kept wickets through out 2003 WC allowing Ganguly luxury of extra batsman/bowler.
4. His 270 in series decider test against Pak in 2004 ( series is remembered for Sehwag’s triple ton and Dravid declaring Indian innings when Sachin was on 194).
5. Multiple times he had to captain the team when Ganguly got injured and India were in desparate situation.
His captaincy will always be remembered for 2007 WC debacle but did someone ask if the team was playing to potential and was unified? Ganguly had issues with Chappell, so Ganguly gang was rebelling. Sachin didn’t want to bat at 4 and so, he didn’t contribute much. Sehwag was going through rough patch.
The no. of times he has saved an innings collapse, saved a match can be compared to only with Steve Waugh but still doesn’t get credit. Though he gets credit for everytime the run rate slows down…:)
He is indeed a poor guy.
Sachin “Can I get a century please” Tendulkar
Let me think of something for Honest Professional Ricky, who would have stopped the match even before he got to 50 because he doesn’t like cheap runs. Or Steve Saint Waugh or Jacques “No Easy runs please” Kallis. Or Sri “952/6″ Lanka. If anything, India should have batted on for Laxman’s hundred that day, or full quota of overs, whichever earlier.
Raj, I’m with you, as I said before, Clarke was batting in the dark at Edgbaston facing Ravo Bopara and Paul Collingwood to get his. But, it was still funny, and you know my rule, funny wins.
Jrod that really is a worthy article on Dravid ,I’m a fan of Dravid , right from his first one day innings(I was around 16 at that time).I’ve written all his one day scores and test scores match by match on my diary(No cricinfo those days
) . Well that man should be given more respect within the team(I hate Bajji’s attitude towards Dravid at times), 11000 is definitely not a bad number , but then who cares, he is after all the main man in a movie where a Cameo of any famous celebrity , takes the credit, or may be its Dravid’s screen presence which is not that good as other player’s screen presence, we Indians are attracted to celebrities more than the performer, well some people who have commented above are the followers of performers no matter whether it is Dravid,Sachin or Ganguly..We are cricket lovers not celebrity lovers..
Bravo. Well done jrod. you did it in cricinfo and put it mildly and funny way.
Dravid is the best indian batsman ever if you ask me. He saved india so many times i lost count.
Sehwag innning today was totally awsome. He was struggling in the first hour. Once he saw spinner and treated them as slow ball bowlers and smacked them and made them his biatches.
Sehwagology still rules. Sachin will go for his century tomorrow to create big gap between ponting and him and hope ponting gets injured and retired.
damn bcci keep creating flat wicket to help sachin.
Jrod, since you brought it up, I’ll show you one more photo.
http://www.willisms.com/archives/cricketer.jpg
12th Man´s last blog ..Is Harbhajan Singh all we have got?
impressive double ton from the former new south wales player
From your article on cricinfo – “He makes more runs per innings than Tendulkar does”
What form of cricket you are talking about? His average is below Tendulkar’s in Tests, ODIs and first calss matches
you are demeaning dravid with your fked up article.. He is the batman of cricket.. .. he is no robin…. he is the man in the gentleman’s game. no ganguly or ponting or sehwag is .\
Better change your opinion about the best batsmen the world have ever witnessed.
Who else has the technique?? and when technically he is the best batsmen.. he is the best batsmen in the world if cricket is really a gentleman’s game!
Thanks for that article about Dravid. He is just about my favourite player outside Oz. Though I even like him more than most of the Aussie players now that Gilly has retired.
I prefer him to Tendulkar. I always have. Always will. I like the worried, ‘I am responsible for cleaning up the mess’ look that is on his face a lot of the time. It was ever present when he was a captain. I like his immense lack of ego.
I was just about weeping with happiness watching him play in the first test of this series. Such a lovely strokeplayer.
If he was from any other country than India, he would be the god, not just the high priest.
Actually I have a soft spot for Laxman as well!
Hey
yr article on dravid is so good it echo’s my sentiments….i really hope that one fine day its all abt just him and no one else …………………..
Cricinfo never allow anti sachin tirade , they won’t allow it posted. It seems like there are sachin fans working as moderator/editor in cricinfo on all comments.
Peter roebuck allow all comments, probably cricinfo guys start to allow some comments then closed it as negative comments piled in, cricinfo has created shrine in cricinfo webpage. still there. i hope they do it when ponting break all sachin records. I am indian.
I like people who play in pressure. Like ponting , hayden , gilchrist , dravid , sehwag the god of sehwagology , pieterson.
For me Dravid is best Indian batsman ever not a good captain though. His by the book thing won’t work with captaincy job.
Dhoni does well now except he got into some tussle and upset god’s mood, sehwag only plays well if people (captain and coach) tell him go , murder the opposition and he needs to be worshipped and praised like any other god. Or he won’t deliver.
Dhoni must understand his trump card and play along if he wants to win world cup. Same thing withs sachin , praise sehwag the god of sehwagology , sehwag will be so hyped up he may hit 6 sixers.
He gets out most of the time because he needs challenges. So captain and coach has to put some challenge and payout if they want sehwag to click everytime.
rakesh, it takes a special person to read my piece on dravid and think badly of him, well done.
Jv, he averages less, but average is not runs per innings, check his runs per innings and he makes more.
I thought my english suck , i can’t understand what rakesh say.
Jrod , you rock!. We need 100s of Jrod.
@jrod – irony is dead among indians mate.
Well done jrod, a very good article on Dravid. He is simply a class apart and his record and his efforts for his Country tells a lot about this unassuming player.
if anything the Dravid article was demeaning to Tendulkar. You prick
Hey JRod,
On Runs per innings, SRT is better than RD 48 to 46 as per Cricinfo, and SRT is also better on every other statistical metric…which obviously you have glossed over since it would not gel with your article. So, since you are pretty much making up the Runs per innings comparison in favor of Dravid, I have to say that this seems like an article that your Aussie-biased heart has created only to try and belittle SRT… Have the guts to rebut? An apology on Cricinfo would be the gentlemanly thing to do…aah, but I forget…your heroes are Aussie cricketers…they only cheat, never apologize.
Cheers Mate, way to go about your writing career.
how can you teach anything to people who think sachin is their GOD. Demeaning to sachin? He can go to hell. He never won anything for india. He can shove his statistics into his arse.
you call mike hussey ProBot. i found probot name is middle name on actual mahela name.
Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene
We agree with your article on Rahul being a silent performer but what was your beef about Tendulkar’s hundred? He did save the match for india and got a deserving hundred. He didn’t had to beg Kumar for hundred but made them pay for the wide stuff they were trying to bowl. I guess your main frustration seem to be about Tendulkar scoring yet another hundred and thus you took a good handle to use Rahul. So again – he is man behind the man!!! what do you say???
Nothing Special, why consider him the second guy?? He acts like the big brother who takes everything on his shoulder on every occassion – and yes he succeeds in it most of the time. So even in normalcy, it should be him who IS the hero – he who provides a base and lets his other kid brothers play their fancies. and you in your artice, are trying to again project him as a second guy,robin, what not — come on it is time people acknowledge him as THE greatest player as said- if he is the greatest player technically, he is the GREATEST ( if cricket really is a gentleman’s game — i dont give a damn to it if it’s not!)!!!
Wow!! I am happy to see so many ppl praising Dravid.All these I was only one chanting his name.Because this hope less media in India , ppl dont look beyond sachin.Just like India failed in exposing all its icons, BCCI has failed in recognizing its cricketing icons.
When ever India fails,its on that day that everyone realizes the importance of Mr.Dependable.The Great Wall of Indian Cricket ??? Sorry he is not just the wall.He is a juggernaut even in the situation of crisis. Poor Dhoni , looks like he is running out of his luck in ODIs.I believe he has his luck as long as the Mr.dependable is in the Test squad.
He has always been the savior of our team.I still realise what made the sports ministry feel that Dhoni deserved Khel Ratna more than the cricketing GREAT Dravid
Rakesh do not understand the humor.
@alex – Great find. Though wristy Jayawardhane is anything but a probot. Btw someone should label the WI – Australia series as the battle of the two probots (Hussey Vs. Chanderpaul).
Dravid is something else. Good to see people get emotional about him even though they did not get the satire.
(This is the answer for your critics on Rahul Dravid)Negative People will Always Criticize ; SOURCE -YOU CAN WIN BOOK)
Some people criticize no matter what. It does not matter which side you are on, they are
always on the other side. They have made a career out of criticizing. They are “career
critics.” They criticize as if they will win a prize at a contest. They will find fault with every
person and every situation. You will find people like this in every home, family, office.
They go around finding fault and telling everybody how bad things are and blaming the
whole world for their problems. We have a name for these people. They are called
energy suckers. They will go to the cafeteria and drown themselves in 20 cups of tea and
coffee and smoke to their hearts’ content with one excuse: they are trying to relax. All
that they are doing is causing more tension for themselves and for others around them.
They spread negative messages like a plague and create an environment conducive to
negative results.
Robert Fulton invented the steamboat. On the banks of the Hudson River he was
displaying his new invention. The pessimists and the skeptics were gathered around to
observe. They commented that it would never start. Lo and behold, it did. As it made its
way down the river, the pessimists who said it would never go, started shouting that it
would never stop. What an attitude!
SOME PEOPLE ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE NEGATIVE
There was a hunter who bought a bird dog, the only one of its kind in the world. That
could walk on water . He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw this miracle. At the
same time, he was very pleased that he could show off his new acquisition to his friends.
He invited a friend to go duck hunting. After some time, they shot a few ducks and the
man ordered his dog to run and fetch the birds. All day-long, the dog ran on water and
kept fetching the birds. The owner was expecting a comment or a compliment about his
amazing dog, but never got one. As they were returning home, he asked his friend if he had noticed anything unusual about his dog. The friend replied, “Yes, in fact, I did notice
something unusual. Your dog can’t swim.”
@jrod : Tendulkar is 2 runs ahead of Dravid in runs per innings
Nice try, relax, take some deep breaths. It was a simple error, it meant to say Dravid makes more runs per test than Sachin does, I have informed cricinfo of this momentous error, they assured me they will correct it. Dravid makes 82 runs per test, Sachin makes 80 runs per test. This article was about Dravid, not Sachin, is it ok to talk up an Indian champion and not talk up Sachin, just the once. My heroes are also Indian, does that mean they are cheats as well? Or are they prone to the odd mistake, like I am?
Dinkar, I have already covered this in the comments, I don’t think Sachin did anything wrong, but i thought it was funny he asked for a hundred. Funny wins.
Sunny, not on all of them, thank fuck.
Poopsie, thanks.
JV, sorry mate, i said runs per innings to you as well, i must have runs per innings on the brain, i never even checked runs per innings, someone told me Dravid makes more runs per test, so I looked that up, and he does.
Almost every cricket fan agrees to the fact that Rahul Dravid is not appreciated enough and then go on to laud him and remember all his great innings and contributions and how he is actually better than Tendulkar or Laxman or Sehwag. Isnt it OXYMORONICAL?
butjazz´s last blog ..The Sachin Tendulkar Quiz
Is it even really worth an argument ? Both are great players .. period.
Now catch on on howzat ! seeya !
tendulkar asks for his hundreds. thats true, isnt it? he always does. and he gets it. it is only the double hundreds that he doesnt get. he once asked dravid for a double hundred in pakistan in 2004 and dravid refused. tendulkar cried and sulked and complained to the media and has been sulking ever since
Viru’s opinion on Dravid
Virender Sehwag on why he thinks Rahul Dravid is the perfect cricketer
To me Rahul Dravid is the perfect cricketer. By the time I decided I would take cricket seriously and make it my profession, Rahul was already doing wonders with his bat. While I always wanted to be like Sachin Tendulkar, there have been plenty of things I have learned from Rahul.
His technique and temperament always fascinated me and now it is clear that his success abroad is because of those two factors. His technique is so good that he can be at ease on any sort of wicket and in any sort of conditions. His temperament and discipline allow him to adapt to different situations without discomfort.
But it was only when I met him that I realised he is a special player because of more than just these two qualities. I read somewhere that attitudes are contagious; if that’s true, his is definitely worth catching. Everything about him is so solid – his character, his technique, everything. He is precise about his practice, and even in his speech he is to the point. There is nothing wasteful about him. Any kind of match is a battle to be won for him. You won’t find any difference in his level of commitment, whether it’s a domestic game, a Test match or even a practice game.
I still remember my debut at Mohali. Rahul tried his best to make me comfortable in the dressing room. For a youngster these things make a lot of difference. When you are out of form, he is the best person to go to. His knowledge, about cricket and about things outside it, means that he can answer all sorts of questions, address all kinds of insecurities you can have at this level of cricket. For younger players, he is a psychological guru and motivator.
Last year in Mohali when he was captaining the side, he told me: whenever you go out to bat, think that this is your day. When I got out after making 195 at Melbourne, Rahul said I wouldn’t realise then what I’d done on that day but would understand the worth and the implications of what I had done only later, and that sooner or later I would come to terms with it. It didn’t take very long for me to realise that if I had stayed at the crease a bit longer we could have made history. I think those two things really helped me plan my innings in Pakistan.
Rahul understands people so well that when he talks to you it’s in a language you understand; he communicates not only with you but with your personality in a way. To me, he always gives small goals. He says, ‘Veeru, you stay here for an hour and the scoreboard will be full of runs.’ When I play a rash shot he comes and says, ‘Yaar why are you in a hurry to go to the dressing room? What will you do there? You’ll have to sit and watch others and think, O Shit, I’ve lost a golden opportunity to get a big one.’ Things like that immediately bring your focus back. Batting with him makes things simple. Like in a Test match when you see him bat and he’s looking rock solid, you start to think, ‘These guys can’t even beat his bat; the bowling’s not that great.’
He is the pillar of our team and the batting revolves around him. Whenever we have done well as a batting unit, whether in Tests or one-dayers, it’s largely due to Rahul. Front foot or back, spin or pace, he has all the shots. But it’s his judgment about what shot to execute and when that makes him special.
Whenever he gets out, the first thing we think is that we have lost almost fifty overs worth of batting. You know he puts a price tag on his wicket. Whenever he does lose it cheaply, he gets really upset. Everyone gets sad after losing his wicket, but after a while we forget and think ahead. But with Rahul he will think about it, work it out in the nets and make sure that it doesn’t happen again. You won’t see him get out in the same way very often. It just shows that he is quick to learn from his mistakes. There is a lot of passion in his performance. He got so emotional after winning the Adelaide Test last year he didn’t want to take off his whites, and I remember he wore them to the bar that night also.