When Rahul Sharad Dravid made his Test debut at the hallowed Lords turf almost a decade ago, little did he know that years down the line his wicketkeeping skills too would be critically analyzed, highly unfair for someone nothing more than a makeshift gloveman. But then a special issue on Rahul Dravid would be incomplete without a mention of his works behind the stumps.
Dravid’s fling with keeping began very early in his junior cricket days. He used to don the gloves in those days until a sudden spurt in height deemed him incompatible for the role and he was asked to concentrate totally on his batting. It’s a fact that wicketkeepers of short stature have tasted most success in international cricket as the job demands quicksilver reflexes. Right from Ian Healy and Dave Richardson to Mark Boucher and Tatenda Taibu, keepers have traditionally been ‘ dynamites in small packages’. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule. The names of Adam Gilchrist and Andy Flower instantly spring to mind when the thought of tall glovemen come to mind. But look around and you’ll find most keeper species of the former type.
Even after making the transition to Ranji Trophy in the early 90’s, the presence of Avinash Vaidya as the specialist keeper meant that Rahul did not have to worry about keeping wickets. But, for India, Dravid’s little flirt with the bigger gloves during his early days as a cricketer came in very handy at a later stage in his career.
So where did the whole idea of Rahul Dravid’s dual role as a wicketkeeping all rounder originate from? There were speculations that since he couldn’t hold his position in the one-day side on the basis of his slow batting, he took up the additional burden. But that’s far from true. India’s genuine wicketkeeper for most of the 90’s Nayan Mongia did a great job for the team behind the wickets. But with ‘Jumbo’ (Kumble’s nickname given to him by Navjot Sidhu) getting him injured time and again, it was Dravid who had to assume the responsibility, as he was the only one with some prior experience. Incidentally Sanjay Manjrekar, very much a player in the Dravid mould, too had some decent keeping skills. But, unfortunately, his batting failures meant he was not a part of the team any longer in the late 90’s. And what began as a stopgap arrangement, soon became a full time assignment for the Bangloreian with the likes of Ajit Agarkar and Sunil Joshi unable to live up to their all-round promise.
Dravid’s stint behind the stumps cannot be described as something extraordinary. But then, it was never expected of him too. The thought process behind Dravid taking up the gloveman’s job was based on the theory that in the shorter format of the game, not too many deliveries go behind the stumps and hence India could afford to play a seventh batsman at the expense of a genuine wicketkeeper. But Ganguly’s claim that the extra batsman policy has been very fruitful for India sounds very much like a mirage.
Turn the clock backwards and recount how many matches have India won with the seventh batsman making a vital contribution? Without doubt the 2002 Natwest final, when Yuvraj and Kaif scripted one of the greatest ODI victories, comes to mind. But one swallow doesn’t make a summer. Kaif did go on to score his maiden ton (and only one till date) in one dayers later that year against Zimbabwe in the Champions Trophy after Douglas Hondo had destroyed the top order. That’s about it. To be fair to Kaif, batting at no.7 one doesn’t get too many opportunities to score big runs. However, with the Indian top order tottering for the whole of last season, he got ample of opportunities to prove his worth, only managing to fritter them away. Now with Kaif moving up the order, things seem to be improving- if only just. And the sword might be placed on Yuvraj’s throat who’s not done any better. Both Kaif and Yuvraj’s fielding might be a big plus point and they might be extremely talented with the bat too. But how long can one survive on talent? If that was the case, Vinod Kambli would never ever have been dropped.
The same applies to Dinesh Mongia who was played as the additional batsman in the 2003 World Cup ahead of Laxman for his supposedly superior fielding and bowling abilities. But what happened to the idea is no secret. After coming a cropper in all the games, Mongia has not managed to retain his spot in the team despite some excellent county outings.
While the motive behind Dravid taking up the gloves was not entirely fulfilled, he did have his moments behind the stumps. A league game in the Coca Cola Cup in Sharjah (the venue for some of One day cricket’s most unforgettable games before allegations of betting and match-fixing made the Indian government refuse permission to allow the team to play there and subsequently matches there have become non-existent in the last two years) in 99 comes to mind. Like on many other occasions, Mongia was once again felled by a Kumble delivery. Dravid took up the gloves and made a significant contribution behind the stumps. First, he stumped a well set Graeme Hick of state mate Sunil Joshi at a very crucial juncture. Then, in the dying moments of the game, he managed to hold on to an edge from Neil Fairbrother of stand in skipper Ajay Jadeja. This was the same match in which Jadeja ended up with magical figures of 1-0-3-3 as India pulled off an impressive victory with help from Dravid as makeshift keeper.
On the flipside, he has dropped a quite a few chances considered simple for a regular keeper. His hesitant stance behind the stumps won’t give much confidence to bowlers running in. Even his gathering of throws doesn’t seem very comfortable. But to his credit, Dravid has worked extremely hard as a keeper and no one can complain about his stint behind the stumps. After all it was something forced on him. And even while not being effective, one cannot recall any such instance that cost India dearly. Certainly nothing as grave as Gibbs dropping the World Cup courtesy of giving a reprieve to Steve Waugh in ‘ 99 or, looking at things from wicketkeeping point of view, Boucher letting off Stephen Fleming in the early stages of the 2003 edition. Both batsmen (skippers of their respective sides) went on to construct glorious centuries to lead their teams to victory.
Dravid’s extended spell as a keeper could be attributed to the fact that he scored four impressive tons (145 Vs SL at Taunton ’99, 109* Vs WI at Amhedabad 2002, 104 Vs UAE at Dambulla 2004, 103* Vs WI at Singapore ’99) and a 99 at Karachi as a keeper batsman. But as time passed by, the burdensome task of keeping began affecting his batting. Knowingly or unknowingly, he even started playing lofted shots without getting his eye in- something totally uncharacteristic of the man. Soon the runs too began drying up, and it was clear the time had come to relieve Dravid. He had enough of it. But not before the height of insanity was achieved when there were reports floating all over that Dravid might have to assume the role in the longer version too. Thankfully wisdom prevailed and Parthiv Patel (many felt Dravid could have done a much better job!!!) and later Dinesh Karthick assumed the responsibility. And with Mahendra Singh Dhoni making respectable strides in the one-day format, Dravid’s days as a keeper should finally be over unless some unforeseeable circumstances emerge.
Even if it did not produce the desired results, the experiment of Dravid as a keeping all-rounder was a novel one doubt. The Pakistanis were so awestruck by the idea that they decided to try out Younis Khan before Kamran Akmal’s performance overshadowed all those thoughts. As for India, with a new captain-coach combo in Dravid and Chappell, it’s time to move on from the makeshift wicketkeeper fixation as also the seven-batsman theory assuming Dhoni lives up to the early promise he has showed both with bat and gloves.
Rahul Dravid is one of the greatest batsman of the modern era and deserves to be remembered only and only that way.
Dravid’s fling with keeping began very early in his junior cricket days. He used to don the gloves in those days until a sudden spurt in height deemed him incompatible for the role and he was asked to concentrate totally on his batting. It’s a fact that wicketkeepers of short stature have tasted most success in international cricket as the job demands quicksilver reflexes. Right from Ian Healy and Dave Richardson to Mark Boucher and Tatenda Taibu, keepers have traditionally been ‘ dynamites in small packages’. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule. The names of Adam Gilchrist and Andy Flower instantly spring to mind when the thought of tall glovemen come to mind. But look around and you’ll find most keeper species of the former type.
Even after making the transition to Ranji Trophy in the early 90’s, the presence of Avinash Vaidya as the specialist keeper meant that Rahul did not have to worry about keeping wickets. But, for India, Dravid’s little flirt with the bigger gloves during his early days as a cricketer came in very handy at a later stage in his career.
So where did the whole idea of Rahul Dravid’s dual role as a wicketkeeping all rounder originate from? There were speculations that since he couldn’t hold his position in the one-day side on the basis of his slow batting, he took up the additional burden. But that’s far from true. India’s genuine wicketkeeper for most of the 90’s Nayan Mongia did a great job for the team behind the wickets. But with ‘Jumbo’ (Kumble’s nickname given to him by Navjot Sidhu) getting him injured time and again, it was Dravid who had to assume the responsibility, as he was the only one with some prior experience. Incidentally Sanjay Manjrekar, very much a player in the Dravid mould, too had some decent keeping skills. But, unfortunately, his batting failures meant he was not a part of the team any longer in the late 90’s. And what began as a stopgap arrangement, soon became a full time assignment for the Bangloreian with the likes of Ajit Agarkar and Sunil Joshi unable to live up to their all-round promise.
Dravid’s stint behind the stumps cannot be described as something extraordinary. But then, it was never expected of him too. The thought process behind Dravid taking up the gloveman’s job was based on the theory that in the shorter format of the game, not too many deliveries go behind the stumps and hence India could afford to play a seventh batsman at the expense of a genuine wicketkeeper. But Ganguly’s claim that the extra batsman policy has been very fruitful for India sounds very much like a mirage.
Turn the clock backwards and recount how many matches have India won with the seventh batsman making a vital contribution? Without doubt the 2002 Natwest final, when Yuvraj and Kaif scripted one of the greatest ODI victories, comes to mind. But one swallow doesn’t make a summer. Kaif did go on to score his maiden ton (and only one till date) in one dayers later that year against Zimbabwe in the Champions Trophy after Douglas Hondo had destroyed the top order. That’s about it. To be fair to Kaif, batting at no.7 one doesn’t get too many opportunities to score big runs. However, with the Indian top order tottering for the whole of last season, he got ample of opportunities to prove his worth, only managing to fritter them away. Now with Kaif moving up the order, things seem to be improving- if only just. And the sword might be placed on Yuvraj’s throat who’s not done any better. Both Kaif and Yuvraj’s fielding might be a big plus point and they might be extremely talented with the bat too. But how long can one survive on talent? If that was the case, Vinod Kambli would never ever have been dropped.
The same applies to Dinesh Mongia who was played as the additional batsman in the 2003 World Cup ahead of Laxman for his supposedly superior fielding and bowling abilities. But what happened to the idea is no secret. After coming a cropper in all the games, Mongia has not managed to retain his spot in the team despite some excellent county outings.
While the motive behind Dravid taking up the gloves was not entirely fulfilled, he did have his moments behind the stumps. A league game in the Coca Cola Cup in Sharjah (the venue for some of One day cricket’s most unforgettable games before allegations of betting and match-fixing made the Indian government refuse permission to allow the team to play there and subsequently matches there have become non-existent in the last two years) in 99 comes to mind. Like on many other occasions, Mongia was once again felled by a Kumble delivery. Dravid took up the gloves and made a significant contribution behind the stumps. First, he stumped a well set Graeme Hick of state mate Sunil Joshi at a very crucial juncture. Then, in the dying moments of the game, he managed to hold on to an edge from Neil Fairbrother of stand in skipper Ajay Jadeja. This was the same match in which Jadeja ended up with magical figures of 1-0-3-3 as India pulled off an impressive victory with help from Dravid as makeshift keeper.
On the flipside, he has dropped a quite a few chances considered simple for a regular keeper. His hesitant stance behind the stumps won’t give much confidence to bowlers running in. Even his gathering of throws doesn’t seem very comfortable. But to his credit, Dravid has worked extremely hard as a keeper and no one can complain about his stint behind the stumps. After all it was something forced on him. And even while not being effective, one cannot recall any such instance that cost India dearly. Certainly nothing as grave as Gibbs dropping the World Cup courtesy of giving a reprieve to Steve Waugh in ‘ 99 or, looking at things from wicketkeeping point of view, Boucher letting off Stephen Fleming in the early stages of the 2003 edition. Both batsmen (skippers of their respective sides) went on to construct glorious centuries to lead their teams to victory.
Dravid’s extended spell as a keeper could be attributed to the fact that he scored four impressive tons (145 Vs SL at Taunton ’99, 109* Vs WI at Amhedabad 2002, 104 Vs UAE at Dambulla 2004, 103* Vs WI at Singapore ’99) and a 99 at Karachi as a keeper batsman. But as time passed by, the burdensome task of keeping began affecting his batting. Knowingly or unknowingly, he even started playing lofted shots without getting his eye in- something totally uncharacteristic of the man. Soon the runs too began drying up, and it was clear the time had come to relieve Dravid. He had enough of it. But not before the height of insanity was achieved when there were reports floating all over that Dravid might have to assume the role in the longer version too. Thankfully wisdom prevailed and Parthiv Patel (many felt Dravid could have done a much better job!!!) and later Dinesh Karthick assumed the responsibility. And with Mahendra Singh Dhoni making respectable strides in the one-day format, Dravid’s days as a keeper should finally be over unless some unforeseeable circumstances emerge.
Even if it did not produce the desired results, the experiment of Dravid as a keeping all-rounder was a novel one doubt. The Pakistanis were so awestruck by the idea that they decided to try out Younis Khan before Kamran Akmal’s performance overshadowed all those thoughts. As for India, with a new captain-coach combo in Dravid and Chappell, it’s time to move on from the makeshift wicketkeeper fixation as also the seven-batsman theory assuming Dhoni lives up to the early promise he has showed both with bat and gloves.
Rahul Dravid is one of the greatest batsman of the modern era and deserves to be remembered only and only that way.
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