Not a gentleman

Rahul Dravid leaves.

That right there is a sign of respect for the bowler. The bowler is contended. The ball is better off being in the keeper’s cushion than the boundary cushion. The grass is greener here this time. The pitch is more greener. The bowler makes his walk back contemplating his next plan.

The team is in tatters. The slip cordon expect him to poke a ball to them. The short leg pokes fun at him and his team. Dravid doesn’t respond. He tries to keep his thoughts together as the wind shakes his shirt. His concentration is not shaken though. He stands with a leg and a bat, unfazed and calm. That is gentlemanly behavior for the viewing public.

He has always been one they say.

Was he really a gentleman?

*************

Rahul Dravid walks in at 0/1. A semi fit Shoaib Akhtar bowls to him. Shoaib Akhtar has never been fully fit. But this is different. Shoaib Akhtar bowls with a sore back. He bowls with the entire home crowd behind his back. Dravid misses. He would go on to win the ICC Cricketer of the year award later that year. But here, there is only one cricketer as the rapturous Rawalpindi crowd roar.

Dravid struggles. First with the timing. The odd ball from a quickie keeps low and one from the spinner bounces soaringly. Then he struggles with the heat waves. Then the waves turn back. Dravid throws everything bar his wicket to survive. Rahul Dravid hits the ball back. First to the pitch next to the boundary and next to the opposition. Shoaib Akhtar tries too hard. His back gives up. Dravid has injured a man and this is not what you’d expect from a gentleman.

Fazl-E-Akbar runs in. He is into his 36th over with only a solitary wicket to show for. He knows that this is his last chance to make a mark for Pakistan. Dravid probably doesn’t know him as much as he knows his off stump. That’s still enough though. He glances the ball that reverses into his pads for four. There is no chance for the fielder. There would be no chance for Akbar too.

The Rawalpindi Sun made Dravid sweat. It wasn’t water with salt. It was kerosene and it burnt Akbar’s career and the hopes of the Pakistanis.

Dravid killed the dreams of a nation. There is nothing gentlemanly about this. Dravid destroyed a career.

*************
Dravid’s hands are sore. They would never be alright again. Years of slip catching has taken it’s toll. He needs some time to treat his fingers. He comes back into the dressing room to find a moment of reprieve after a busy day at the field.

Before the magic spray in his palm dries the Management asks Dravid to open and he finds himself in the middle. Dravid hated opening. But he also never says No. When the team management asks him to recite the alphabets, Dravid would start from A and he would continue with M,YES and so on.

Dravid soon runs out of partners and he is battling a lone war. He is then accompanied by an overweight RP Singh in the middle. He is probably doesn’t have more weight than the one which Dravid puts for his wickets.

Dravid leaves. There are many leaves taken from the textbook to execute that leave. The next ball does what the top order did that innings (read nothing) till it reaches the 3rd quarter of the pitch. Then it starts to move. Dravid doesn’t commit and plays it late. He then puts the entire bodyweight to one foot and defends. By doing so, he puts his entire teammates to shame.

This is slow death. Fatigue creeps into the bowlers limbs. Dravid drives. The ball creeps into the boundary and guilt creeps into his teammates.

Rahul Dravid has made his teammates guilty and put them to shame.

How can this be gentlemanly?

**********

Jason Gillespie continues his spell. He really needs a magical spell to remove Dravid. Behind Gillespie’s Jesus like hair is a seagull. It didn’t distract Dravid though. He doesn’t care about his hair. Or the Adelaide air. Or the Seagull’s flair. Dravid negotiates the delivery. The pattern continues. Even Jesus would’ve struggled to dismiss Dravid. Jason Gillespie loses his speed. He eventually loses his confidence and gets replaced.

Killing a man’s confidence is not what you’d expect from a gentleman.

***********

Dravid is not a gentleman. Dravid is a doctor. He is a doctor who does everything disheartening to the disease to save his patient. Slowest deaths are the cruelest. And the one who implements cruelty will never be a gentleman.

Dravid’s arrival to the crease doesn’t necessarily raise the pulse of the nation. It rather calms down. The medicine here is hope. And sometimes, hope is everything.

Happy Birthday RD