da brdice： An account of Rahul Dravid through his formative years

da fezbet： Satish Viswanathan17-Mar-2006

‘Consistent, persistent, focused are words freely associated with Rahul Dravid now butthese have always been his strengths’ © AFP
The year 1990 seems so far away but that¹s where we must begin. It was thefinal year of college for some of us, but it was the first year among thebig boys for Rahul Dravid. Then a slightly freckled, wiry lad, he is todaythe Indian captain and on the verge of playing his 100th Test. Then a shyintrovert, today he is perhaps the country¹s most articulate sportsperson.Then a murderer of spin bowling, today he wears down the best and fastest offast bowlers. It has been some journey.From St Joseph¹s School to St Joseph¹s Commerce College (SJCC) is a naturalstep for most Josephites in Bangalore, but for Dravid it was much more thanthat. Here was where he would get three degrees for the price of one. Itwas a great place to study; the college believed in creating well-roundedpersonalities rather than just bright students; and most importantly, SJCChad a fantastic cricket team, one of the hardest to break in to.Many a talented cricketer had made his way into the college after being astar in school cricket, only to then warm the benches for a year or twobefore getting a look in. But not Dravid: at 17, his special ability wasmore than apparent.I remember one incident vividly. Having gone away to represent Karnataka inan Under-17 tournament, Dravid returned with a broken arm and was forced tomiss a few college games. Just days after he had resumed practice, thecollege side was to play a three-day final. The team think-tank wasunanimous that Dravid must come into the side if only for his ability tokeep one end up and allow the otherwise predominantly attacking batsmen toplay their strokes freely. But this meant that we had to drop a batsman whohad scored a mere half-century in the previous game.To cut a small story short, Dravid justified his inclusion, but the lad whowas dropped simply walked out of the college. He didn¹t think for a momentthat Dravid was a better player than him and made his point rather tooforcibly. I met him a few years later, and I was relieved that he was nowable appreciate that Dravid had been more deserving.The other thing that I remember most about him is something he said aftermore than a modest tour of West Indies in1997. ‘My biggest fear is ending myinternational career as just yet another Test cricketer. I want to beremembered as a great Test cricketer.’ This was barely one year after hisTest debut, and coming from someone else it could have sounded boastful, oreven foolish. Not so with Dravid, who was earnest and completely focused onbecoming really good.Single-mindedness has always been his big asset, and this was something wewere exposed to pretty early. I remember a two-day fun-trip out of Banglaorein 1990. While most of the team drank the night away at a cool hill station,Dravid spent the night practicing. No, it wasn¹t cricket. He found out thatour wicketkeeper was a great dancer and decided it was time for somelessons.What the dance teacher didn¹t realize was that this was no ordinary pupil, who would go away after a while; the lessons went on for the whole night. You can see that his feet movement is near perfect on the cricket field these days and has been so for more than a while.Consistent, persistent, focused are words freely associated with him now butthese have always been his strengths. The one thing he has added inabundance is balance. Balance not just at the batting crease but life ingeneral.He does not fly back from an inconsequential series for the birth of hischild but willingly stays awake nights tending to him after that. His busyschedule allows him little time for old friends, but does not forget topersonally call them up for his marriage. While he does not like offendingpeople, it doesn¹t stop him from bringing on Anil Kumble, old friend andproven matchwinner, as third-change spinner on a spinner¹s paradise.On Saturday, Dravid will walk out in his Indian blazer for his 100th Testand may just be overcome enough by the occasion to lose a step or two andwill probably lose the toss too. But whatever happens from here, he hasalready earned the right to described as one of great batsmen in the world.