The Wall calls it a day

During India's 2011tour of England, a fan held a poster— “Sachin is God of Cricket. Saurav is God of Off-side. Laxman is God of 4th Innings. But when the doors of these temples close, even they take shelter behind THE WALL.” On his debut at Lord's, Rahul Dravid missed a brilliant century by mere five runs. Cut to 2011, dogged by poor performance and critics asking him to retire, Dravid hit a determined century and engraved his name on the Honour's board.                                    

A supreme example of grit and endurance, Dravid has always been the silent warrior. A team man with no frills, he kept wicket and moved up or down the batting order depending on the needs of the situation. In an era where the world worships Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid has carved a niche for himself. As Sachin said —“There is, and will always be, only one Rahul Dravid.”          

Incomparable

The Indian team, Captain, Coach, fans ... everybody and everything changed but the Wall will be as strong as ever. We may enjoy a solid helicopter six from Dhoni but never will we get a chance to watch a solid defence. We may enjoy Sehwag's upar cut; but we cannot experience a stylish square cut anymore. There's no one who can take Rahul Dravid's place.We will miss you forever.

ANIRUDHAN CHANDRASEKARAN, SRM UNIVERSITY

Strongest pillar

His dedication, perseverance and unwillingness to accept defeat are what made him the Wall of Indian cricket. He has been the reason why many of us love cricket. I Just have two words for Rahul Dravid —“THANK YOU”

ANURAG DANGI, CHINMAYA VIDYALAYA

Unsung hero

Commitment , class and consistency are three words that define Rahul Dravid's career. Dravid's contribution to Indian cricket includes many intangible contributions. He has always gone that extra mile for the team, be it wicket keeping or being flexible with his batting position.  Dravid has pretty much been the unsung hero of Indian cricket since his Test debut at Lord's where his impressive 95 was overshadowed by fellow-debutant Ganguly's century. All good things come to an end but there are some things one wished would continue till eternity. I have got so used to watching Dravid coming in at No. 3 that knowing it's not going happen is difficult to accept. Dravid , thank you for glorious memories and for being a role model for the ages. You'll be missed.

Tendulkar has a long stint at the nets

The news from the Indian team hotel was anything but inspiring. The words ‘optional practice' were bandied around and as the scribes resigned themselves to a sluggish day here on Wednesday, a stir was in store with Sachin Tendulkar deciding to have a hit in the nets.

The man, who is feeling the weight of expectations ever since that hundred against South Africa at Nagpur during last March and has also struggled to impose his regal stature at the crease over the last few months, strode in with Yusuf Pathan and Rahul Sharma.

The team's coaching trio of Duncan Fletcher, Joe Dawes (bowling) and Trevor Penney (fielding) were also in attendance and soon Tendulkar buckled down for a long stint that lasted more than an hour.

The bowling group of Yusuf, Rahul, Dawes, Penney and video-analyst Dhananjay evoked varying responses from Tendulkar. The maestro fine-tuned his trickle towards third-man with mixed results against Yusuf and when he tried to defend, a delivery struck his bat and then bounced past the stumps triggering mirth in the off-spinner.

Rahul enjoyed no such luck as Tendulkar relished the extra bounce to sandpaper his cuts and lofted a few that threatened the parked vehicles in the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. In the adjacent net, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara essayed some aggressive shots and departed but Tendulkar kept batting though he took mini-breaks to chat with Fletcher.

Later, he watched Yusuf's hefty strikes and then enthusiastically bowled his leg-breaks to a perplexed Rahul. The tail-ender failed to read Tendulkar, miscued a few shots and the senior partner gleefully indicated that those strokes would be caught in the deep.

Rahul then swung his bat and missed and once was also castled while Tendulkar mixed it up, bowling the faster one and at times pausing a bit and imparting air. Finally Rahul managed to thump a few from the meat of his bat. At the end of the session, Tendulkar took him aside and discussed his stance.

Cricket's highest run-getter laughed, spoke a lot and displayed an ease that belied the anxieties of waiting for his elusive 100th international hundred for over a year.

India post facile win

Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli scored timely centuries to guide India to a 50-run win over Sri Lanka in their opening game at the Asia Cup in Dhaka on Tuesday. Photos: AP

The manual scoreboard at the Shere-e-Bangla National Stadium is not a crystal ball for gazing into the future but surely the men, who supervise it, do have a sense of evolving fortunes.

Ahead of Thursday's key Asia Cup game between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the organisers placed the names of the respective playing XIs.

Obviously they believed in status quo and merely replicated the earlier teams that the rivals fielded over the last four days!

The Sri Lankan squad had no Angelo Mathews and Lasith Malinga was also absent from the ranks. One part of the scoreboard's team-prediction, if you could call that, came true when Mahela Jayawardene informed the media that Mathews was returning home after failing to recover from a calf-injury.

Malinga, though, is racing against time to get fit and trained here on Wednesday, starting with a slow run-up before increasing his pace towards the end of his 30-minute session. He also participated in fielding drills and batted against throw-downs but the last word on his match-fitness will be heard only when Jayawardene and Misbah-ul-Haq walk out for the toss.

Dampening factors

The absence of Mathews and the uncertainty surrounding Malinga are dampening factors within the Sri Lankan dressing room while the team has to defeat Pakistan to stay alive in the Asia Cup. History's long-arm holds several clues for revival as defying odds is nothing new for Sri Lanka.

Be it grounding Australia in the World Cup final at Lahore in 1996 or the recent narrow victory against Shane Watson's men at Melbourne, which helped it qualify for the Commonwealth Bank Series finals, Sri Lanka has been known to springing surprises.

On Tuesday, Sri Lanka was in the contest against India until Kumar Sangakkara chanced his arm against R. Ashwin in the batting Power Play.

A clutch of wickets fell and the earlier momentum gathered by Jayawardene was frittered away. Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, who added layers of respectability to their emerging reputations in Australia, played inexplicable shots and that effectively snuffed out the Sri Lankan challenge.

Need for consistency

The two, expected to shepherd Colombo's dreams, once the twilight beckons Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan, need to remain consistent, else the same old story of excessive reliance on the top-order will be Sri Lanka's strength as well as weakness. To make it worse, the bowlers lost their angles against India and while the bouncer was conspicuous by its absence, an embarrassing number of full-tosses were peddled, though one of them snared a tepid Sachin Tendulkar!

Against Pakistan, Sri Lanka cannot afford to repeat the horrors and Jayawardene said as much in the pre-match briefing.

If Sri Lanka found itself in the wringer against defending champion India, Pakistan had it easy against Bangladesh as the host's susceptibility to choke while treading the victory path surfaced again in the inaugural game on Sunday.

Ineptitude

Chasing 262, Bangladesh wilted despite the flailing attempts of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib-Al-Hasan.

The host's batting ineptitude actually helped Pakistan temporarily forget its 36 for six collapse which negated the fine effort of openers Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed.

Pakistan's spinners led by Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi can cause a few hassles on this pitch, which tends to reward batsmen, who would need to settle down first before setting their sights on sixes unless you are in the zone like Jayawardene was against India.

After getting whipped by England in the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan's ODI reputation has sagged and the next few days are crucial for Misbah to strengthen his team's fortunes.

The last time, Pakistan and Sri Lanka clashed in the dry confines of UAE, Misbah's men made merry, winning the Tests 1-0 and the ODIs 4-1. The undercurrents from those November days and Sri Lanka's current context of being boxed into a corner, should impart an extra edge to Thursday's contest as the race for the finalist spots heats up in the tournament.

Ponting returns to captaincy

Australian selectors have asked former captain Rickey Ponting to lead the side in the Commonwealth Bank tri-series ODI against Sri Lanka in Sydney on February 17 - an unsual move given that past captains are seldom given a sniff at the top job again.

A hamstring injury to Michael Clarke, the captain, will keep him out of the match. However, Clarke will captain Australia in the next two ODIs, including the game against India in Brisbane on February 19.

Chief selector John Inverarity said here on Tuesday, “After careful consideration, the National Selection Panel (NSP) has aked Rickey Ponting if he would captain team in Michael Clarke's absence.”

Dashing opener David Warner is the vice-captain in the side but Inverarity said, “David Warner is a young player making his way. He displays considerable leadership potential, but the NSP is of the

opinion that he should not, at the moment, have the added responsibility of captaincy thrust on him.”

The selection panel chief elaborated, “David has been gaining valuable experience under Michael Clarke's captaincy and now he will have the opportunity to grow his leadership skills further as vice-captain to Ricky Ponting. In making this decision the NSP reminded itself of the fact that Ricky Ponting led the winning Australian ICC Cricket World Cup teams in 2003 and 2007. The NSP appreciates the fact that Ricky is prepared to accept this responsibility in the wider interests of the team."

Paceman Ryan Harris, carrying minor niggles, have been dropped from the squad. Brett Lee, who has made a miraculous recovery from a broken bone in his left foot, has been included. The experienced paceman will, however, have to undergo a fitness test ahead of the match.

Swing bowler Ben Hilfenhaus, who was in the side as injury cover for the second game, has been inducted in the side. Wicket-keeper batsman Matthew Wade continues to keep Brad Haddin out.

Inverarity revealed key all-rounder Shane Watson was making good progress from his fitness concerns. Watson has taken part in grade cricket without the calf injury playing up and is now poised to play

Shield cricket.

The sqaud for Australia's next three ODIs: M. Clarke (captain, from the match against India in Brisbane from Sunday), R. Ponting (captain for Friday's match against Sri Lanka in Sydney), D. Warner, M. Wade, M. Hussey, D. Hussey, P. Forrest, D. Christian, M. Marsh, B. Lee, C. McKay, M. Starc, B. Hilfenhaus,D. Xoherty

Dhoni's Dharma

The first time that I sat up and took notice of MS Dhoni was during a training camp at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, in mid-2005. He was batting in the nets at the BEML end of the ground with Ajit Agarkar amongst the bowlers.

On what was a slow, low practice pitch, Dhoni looked quite comfortable on the front foot, so I asked Ajit to test him with a bouncer. Ajit had a very good bouncer that often surprised batsmen, especially on the slower wickets.

He bowled a beauty. Not too short, rising to about Adam's apple height over the right shoulder. Dhoni, unfazed, rocked back onto his back foot and hit the ball as hard and high, in front of square, as I had ever seen a ball struck. The ball rocketed up to hit the facia of the stand about 50m above the playing field.

The sound of ball hitting bat, and ball hitting facia, seemed to be simultaneous. It was one of the most audacious shots that I had ever seen. Had it not hit the facia of the stand, it would have landed in the Police Parade Ground, hundreds of metres away, on Link Road!

During that same camp, we had some sessions of simulated match practice aimed at improving the team's ability to chase targets in One-Day matches. The recent history in run chases was extremely poor. It soon became apparent that Dhoni was one of the best ‘finishers' in this format.

Tennis-ball grounding

Dhoni's grounding in tennis-ball cricket is obvious in the way he bats. He has an inimitable and unorthodox technique. With his strength, he is capable of hitting balls into places that only few others can conceive. He is the best attacking player of the yorker I have ever seen. I once saw him hit a James Anderson yorker straight back over the bowler's head for six. It was awesome.

Other things that I soon learnt about Dhoni was he really understood the game, he had a calm confidence about his own ability and was not bothered with false modesty. If he thought he could do something, he was not scared to say so. Not in an egotistical way; just forthright. This was also unique to Dhoni and I found it refreshing.

It was clear to me that Dhoni was a captain in the making. Whenever I thought of Dhoni, I was reminded of the quote from Bhagavad Gita, ‘It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of someone else's life with perfection.'

At the time, I thought that Dhoni's destiny was to lead India to the pinnacle of world cricket. I still believe that. He has led them to a T20 and 50-over World Cup victory. Test cricket has not been as easy to tame.

Records, good and bad

Dhoni's overall win record of 46 % in Tests, as captain, is not bad. His home record of 66% wins is excellent, but the glitch in his record is a win ratio of 26% from 19 Tests away from the comforts of home.

This record has been hammered on recent tours to England and Australia; probably the two toughest tours for Indian players brought up on the batting-friendly strips at home.

What bothered me most about this tour of Australia is that Dhoni looked tired and bereft of ideas, at times, during the Test series. His batting confirmed it as he appeared to be struggling to make the mental effort required to tackle the persistent Australian bowling.

This set the tone for the rest of his charges, who often looked resigned to the inevitable, long before the game was decided.

Has the demand of having the top job in the three formats, plus the IPL, jaded Dhoni to the point where he wants to give up on his ‘Dharma' of leading India to the top?

Not only does Indian cricket need him to see out his destiny, but the game in a broader sense and Test cricket in particular, needs him. No one else appears to have his combination of charisma, calmness and strength of character to bring together the right people, on and off the field, to make this happen.

If you need any further confirmation, just ask corporate India.

Dhoni takes a dig at DRS

Queried whether the five-ball over - sent down by Lasith Malinga in the 30th over of the innings - would have made a difference to the result of the game, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said, "It's done and dusted, that is what is important. We can create a big fuss out of it but what is the point. Nothing can be done now?"

Dhoni added, "We have seen in the past, when we have bowled an over and almost changed sides (ends), the third umpire intervenes and says `okay, you have to bowl one more ball in this particular over'. It didn't happen in this game."

The Indian captain also took the opportunity to comment on DRS. "If it can happen, then I don't know why people back the DRS so much. We have seen people really being happy with DRS in one series when it goes in their favour. If it doesn't go in their favour, they're unhappy about it."

Dhoni said, "I'm quite happy with three individuals ... two umpires in the middle and a third umpire. Then you have the match referee and the scorer. If such a mistake still happens, it's better off accepting it because as humans they are bound to make mistakes."

Tuesday's Man of the Match also said, "Hopefully it won't be repeated with us or any other side."

Asked about Gautam Gambhir's remarks that the Indians should have finished the game against Australia on Sunday earlier and Dhoni, perhaps, was waiting for someone else to take responsibility, the Indian captain replied, "I am not in a hurry to finish the game in the 47th or 48th over. I am happy if I can do it in the 50th. I don’t have the luxury of batsmen behind me."

Dhoni elaborated, "It’s different with individuals. Some like to finish early, take risk and finish things off. It’s difficult to play huge shots on big grounds. When you go for it, it really has to pay off. Otherwise it looks as if this shot wasn’t needed at that stage.

If you ask Viru (Virender Sehwag), he would look to finish things in 35 overs. He believes the ball is there to be hit. So it’s a difference in perspective. There is nothing wrong between me and Gambhir.”

He was all praise for Gambhir's 91 here. "Once he gets going, he really comes up with the big scores. He plays the spinners very well and runs well between the wickets. He bats for 35-40 overs."

Dhoni said it was important for a finisher to keep his mind blank in the final stages. "You need to keep the mind blank and back yourself to hit. For instance, Malinga can bowl yorkers at will."

Queried whether the Indians would now rest Gambhir after his innings of 92 and 91 in successive games, Dhoni said, "One of the things we want is all players to be fit by the time we play the finals, if we make it. The grounds here in Australia are big and there is no guarantee that everyone will be fit if they play all the games. Sachin, Sehwag and even Gautam, are over 30 and we thought it would be a good idea to give the youngsters a chance. It would also have them ready for the later duels in case someone gets injured."

Dhoni said the tie was a fair result - "both the teams did not deserve to lose" - and added the Adelaide pitch was sub-continental in nature.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene said, "230 odd was not going to be enough here. Then, we dropped catches and missed run-out chances."

Jayawardene also gave credit to Dhoni, "When he is batting through to the end, it becomes difficult for the opposition."

He added, "We fought and one has to back Malinga to do the job. But we are happy with two points. We could have lost the match."