Dravid needs to lighten up and play with less tension

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an imposing arena. The stands don’t as much...

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an imposing arena. The stands don’t as much stare down at you as they challenge you with their size and as he stood there, bat in hand, Rahul Dravid looked like a sailor marooned at sea. At high school he must have, like so many of us, studied The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and with even a run, a humble single now the object of his desire, he might well have wondered, as the poet did, “water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink”. His record is among the most glittering in the history of the game, there are twenty thousand international runs adorning him but the single eluded him for forty balls and thereafter, he only scratched out a total of five. We preach about the glory of sport but here was one of its most dignified, resolute and skilled practitioners reduced to penury.

Is this game then about putting bat on ball or are they mere slaves of what goes on in the mind? If it was a game of ethics, team values and bravery, Dravid would never stop scoring runs. But it is also a game of light and free minds. A song on the lips frees the feet, eases the tension from elbows and shoulders and the bat, like a willing attendant, follows. In recent times Dravid has given the impression of being somewhere else, of being burdened. There has always been a certain gravity about him, for he is a thoughtful man, but now he seems weighed down by something. Maybe, he needs to do something else; even intense and erudite men sometimes need to shake a leg, maybe he needs to watch a rollicking comedy.

Maybe we read too much into one innings for didn’t he get starts in four out of five innings against Pakistan? His next effort will be interesting to watch and if he finds that it isn’t bringing the best out of him, maybe he should revert to number three, for he has earned that place by right as one of the greatest number three batsmen in the history of the game.

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At number four, Sachin Tendulkar has cleared his mind of the limitations of simple men. Tendulkar has spoken at great length in recent times of having to bat according to the needs of the team. Often that has meant embracing defence, cutting out shots and placing limitations on the limitlessness that the world recognises him for. Now, he says, he has decided to be positive and play shots if he feels the ball deserves one. And he played many at the MCG, the scene of one of his outstanding centuries eight years ago. It was in seeking to dominate that he got out, the slowness of the pitch defeating his shot and that can happen. In times gone by, the first Test innings would have been the fifth or sixth on tour but with greed replacing sense, there is no time to make adjustments.

Dhoni, for example, has only played two balls on this tour and that should never ever happen. As the tour progresses and as pitch, feet and bat sing the same tune, Tendulkar should score many more.

And this game has shown up one of the most indomitable spirits of our time. At lunch on the first day, with another huge Australian score looming, Kumble exhorted his teammates to play positively and encourage each other. He looked for wickets rather than containment and in doing so played the only way you can in this most sporting and demanding nation. His attitude shone through and luckily found some willing to be infected by it. It was no coincidence that the first day of this series was one of the most glorious you will see—two sides unfettered by bowling and fielding restrictions locked in a magnificent battle.

And to think that some of us didn’t believe his shoulder would allow him to be playing cricket still.

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And if Harbhajan had progressed as he should have, Kumble might not even have been at the MCG, let alone leading India out with pride. Kumble perseveres, and he does so with honest intent. It is a lesson that his younger lieutenants haven’t always studied with equal zeal. You just sense that India need a few more Kumbles to take on Australia.