The Wall is Crumbling
While the focus for Indian fans has shifted from test series to the triangular one day series, what many would have forgotten is the form of Rahul Dravidin the test series. Rahul Dravid Dravid often very reliable in the past, scored just 95 runs in the series at an average of 19.00. For the record only tailders Harbhanjan Singh and Ojha have averaged lower than Dravid while the only other batsmen Gautam Gambir who averaged lesser than Dravid got to play only the first test as he had to miss the subsequent tests to injury. What would me hurting Dravid more is the fact that even debutant bowler Abhimanyu Mithun scored more runs than Dravid, while Ishant Sharma who does not have any great credentials as a tail ender averaged much more than the wall.
While many may excuse Dravid for having a off series, the bitter truth is that Dravid has been on a lean patch since July 2006. In 4 years Rahul Dravid has played 38 tests and 69 innings averaging a mere 38.74 for his 2441 runs. Prior to that phase Dravid averaged a astonishing 58.75 in 104 Tests for 9049 runs. Dravid has played in as many as 13 series since July 2006 and has failed in 9 of those 13 series and of the 4 series in which Dravid feel three of them involved Bangladesh and New Zealand. What is more worrying for Dravid and Indian selectors is that he has consistently failed to score runs against top bowling attacks like Australia and South Africa during this period. Dravid series wise break up of runs during the above period is given below:-
125 20.83 2006 Away South Africa
192 64.00 2007 Home Bangladesh
126 25.20 2007 Home Engalnd
181 38.20 2007 Home Pakistan
237 33.85 2008 Away Australia
178 44.50 2008 Home South Africa
148 24.60 2008 Away Sri Lanka
120 17.l14 2008 Home Australia
143 35.75 2008 Home England
314 62.80 2009 Away New Zealand
433 108.25 2009 Home Sri Lanka
139 69.50 2010 Away Bangladesh
95 19.00 2010 Away Sri Lanka
While age is not a factor for determining the worth of a player with players like Muralidharan quiting on their own terms at a more advanced age than Dravid, for Rahul Dravid in the current set team set up which India has age certainly becomes a huge factor because lot of youngsters like Cheteshwar Pujara and Suresh Raina(made into the team only because of an injury to Yuvraj) have been unable to break into the Indian team which has a exceptional batting line up in Sachin, Sehwag, Laxman and Gambir with the likes of Dhoni and Yuvraj to follow and in this situation one may feel that Dravid who averages a pathetic 38+ in an extended period of 4 years is blocking the way of younger players.
Another factor which goes against Dravid is the fact that he does not offer any utility team other than batting though he is an exceptional slip fielder. For example players like Adam Gilchrist and Jacque Kallis could afford a failure with their bat because while the former was a specialist wicketkeeper the latter finds a place in the team as more than useful back up bowler with a capacity to rip through the innings on his day. What goes against Dravidwas that even Sourav Ganguly who was a dominant figure in Indian cricket and wielded lot of clout, was eased out of the team at a much early age inspite of the fact that he was India's most successful captain at that point of time.
While loss of form could be attributed to many reasons in the case of Dravid it has been an extended period and one reason for that could be the fact that Sehwag has cornered lot of media attention and rightly so which at point of time belonged to Dravid. At one point of time media glare was on discussions between Sachin and Dravid as to who is the greatest, but right now the focus seems to have shifted from Dravid to the likes of Sehwag and Dhoni while Sachin retains the same aura.
Whatever may be the reasons for Dravid's extended poor show with bat, the batting icon who was 37 years and years and 207 days when he played his last innings should be seriously told by the selectors and team management to get back into form in his own interests and the teams interests and not stand in the way of deserving youngsters. Dravid during his tenure as captain advocated the inclusion of youngsters in the team but right now finds himself in a situation that is blocking the way of a youngster.
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