'Floater's role took Dravid nowhere'

Mumbai: How the mighty have fallen! Two months ago Bristol was the place to watch cricket. To experience an ennobling innings. To watch Rahul Dravid haul off and hit the England bowlers over covers for an un-Dravid like 60-ball 92.

Now it seems ages since we have seen The Wall bat. It will be a wait till the selectors announce the squad for the remaining three one-day matches against Pakistan, for Virender Sehwag, and not Dravid, finds a place in the first two.

All of which prompts the obvious question: what happens to the one-day career of India’s most reliable middle-order bat?

“Initially I thought it was quite silly to sideline him (Dravid) for such an important series,” remarks former India quickie Atul Wassan, “but it may not be a bad idea to give him a chance to reorganise himself. He looked a little lost against Australia and who knows a break may just do him some good.”

Cricketnext asked him if the word ‘rest’ was being used loosely as a sort of camouflage for the more harsh-sounding ‘dropped.’ Wassan says, “I won’t read too much into it. The selectors might have wanted to give him a breather. At times it makes sense to stop thinking about the game and rejuvenate the mind.”

He adds though, “I thought Sourav Ganguly, too, should have been rested. I don’t see any reason why he should be a natural inclusion, when you already have Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir who is in form, and now Virendra Sehwag to open the innings.”

Ex-cricketer Madan Lal is more fluent in derision. He bristles, “Dravid’s exclusion just goes on to show that we value averages more than team goals. This role of a floater has taken Dravid nowhere in life. He wanted the youngsters to use the critical positions in the batting order but the move has probably ruined his career. You don’t make such sacrifices in Indian cricket.”

“In the last six innings he has batted at three only once. And that baffles reason,” reiterates Ashok Malhotra. “I agree that in the present scheme of things, Dravid is a misfit at seven. But this is no way to treat a great player. It will only serve to dent his confidence.”

Malhotra feels that going by the formbook, Virendra Sehwag has done hardly anything of note to deserve mention. He points that there are too many loopholes in the composition of the Indian side that has five openers, three of whom do not want to bat in the middle-order.

“It shows that this has become a one-man selection committee,” he remarks taking a pot-shot at Dilip Vengsarkar. “Seems he is more interested in writing for his management company. Worse still, the Board hasn’t bothered to pull him up on this.”