Rahul Dravid resigns from Captaincy

By abhishek at 13 September, 2007, 2:30 pm

Is it an end of an era? I got phone calls from most of my friends; all world class gully cricketers messaging me about Dravid�s decision. It�s big. Dravid is one of the few gentlemen left behind to believe that cricket once upon a time was indeed a gentleman�s game. Rahul Dravid formally announced his resignation as India�s captain and is uninterested to lead the team for the upcoming series in Australia. While the likes of Bishan Singh Bedi make careless statements (nothing new there) wondering out loud whether Dravid chickened out, I feel that Rahul Dravid deserves more. The media, hungry for some controvertial statements had to make do with Dravid�s diplomatic one liner (which hardly even constitutes to be a reply), �I have nothing to say.�

Who�s next? Sharad Pawar had to go through a few fomalities after he accepted Dravid�s resignation. Formalities included conferring with senior players. He offered Sachin�s opinion on he leading the team and Sachin promptly retorted, �Are you kidding me?� Who�s next then? Dhoni, who is leading a young team in the Twenty20 World Cup is too mercurial to be considered.

So, instead of asking the question, �Who�s next?� we must ask, �What is good for India?� The side is young. Dinesh kartick (22), Robin Uttapha (21), Yuvraj Singh (25), Mahendar Singh Dhoni (27). To me, Yuvraj seems to be the best person to be groomed to don the most burdened cap - that of the �Indian Captain.� But, he is raw, too young and hot blooded at the moment. But, he is that kind of fruit which ripens with age and gets ready to be plucked to fulfil its purpose at the right time. He�ll have to wait. So, what is good for India?

�Bhoole toh nahin nah mujhe?� (�Hope you haven�t forgotten me yet�) proclaimed a celebrity on national TV for a Pepsi ad after being unceremoniusly ostracised from the Indian cricket team. While the reasons for Ganguly�s exit were fair, the manner in which he was sacked was brutal. The defeat was new to him. It was clear that he couldn�t take it. He went back playing to a motely crowd in the domestic circuit when all his life he was used to the deafening roar from stadiums across the world. He gritted his teeth and hoped that his bat would talk for him. He failed. He score a few ducks and went wicketless for a few matches. The media followed his dismal performace in the sports pages for a couple of months and then the press didn�t bother spending� any more ink on a �loser�. Meanwhile, Saurauv Ganguly put his head down and with some luck scored centuries, took wickets, dived around on grassless outfields in the peak of summer, guided West Bengal to the Ranji Trophy finals.�

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While players like Ravi Shastri, Javagal Srinath and now Zaheer Khan know what it takes to make a comeback in the side after being dropped, Ganguly can write a book on the topic. In 10 months after the news papers declared, �Ganguly shown the door�, he was recalled and went on to produce many a successful opening partnerships for India.

Ever heard of make-shift captain? An interim solution for succession planning? The answer lies in Saurav Candidas Ganguly. The deal should be such that he takes upon himself to pass on the baton to Yuvraj Singh who will be ready in a year or two. Notice Ganguly when he takes a wicket or scores a fifty. He celebrates unabashedly and sometimes at the verge of looking ugly. That�s what India need at the moment. Arrogance, experience, adrenalin and a healthy spirit. Ganguly can provide all of these since it will be clear that he would only be doing the benign job of grooming the next in line. So, there goes the politics out of the window. John Wright had said that the dressing room is the happiest when Ganguly is around. And if Ganguly is offered the captaicy, he will take it just to give himself some more adrenalin rush and also to rub it in to all those critics which included Sunil Gavaskar. As for Pepsi, I see them rolling out a cliche with a beaming Ganguly saying, ‘Dada… Naam toh suna hoga.’ All of it sounds like a fairy tale, but, if it does happen, Saurauv deserves to be its author.

I say, �Go dada Go!�

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Categories : Sports