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Rahul Dravid, Rajendra Kumar and Sushma Swaraj

Poor Rahul Dravid! This stylish human batsman was such an embarrassment to everyone at the mini-world Cup cricket tournament in Dhaka. Coming to bat at number four when the vital first 15 overs were still in progress against the West Indians, Dravid hung around for a long time to scrape 20 odd runs. He conceded two maiden overs to rookie West Indian paceman, Reon King. He hit several balls straight to the fielders, did not rotate the strike and it was a big relief to everyone when finally he was out.

But then Rahul Dravid always bats like that. To him every match, including the one-dayers is like a timeless Test match where he can take his own time. The fault is not with Rahul, but with those who chose him in the final eleven. Rahul Dravid is like millions of Indians, occupying positions for which they are totally unsuited. When Jawaharlal Nehru chose his first Cabinet in 1948, it was presumed that he had chosen competent and honest men.

In fact, he had except for one person, who could be termed the Rahul Dravid of that team. This was Defence Minister Sardar Baldev Singh. He was the butt of several Sardarji jokes and everyone admitted that the defence minister was clearly deficient in the brains department. Like Rahul Dravid in the one day cricket team, Sarkar Baldev Singh was a misfit in the Cabinet which had such illustrious names as Sardar Vallabhai Patel and Maulana Azad.

Returning to the theme of cricket, Indian cricket selectors have had the shocking ability to choose several 'Rahul Dravids' even in the past. When the first Indian cricket team was all set to tour Australia in 1947-48, it was found that several big names like Vijay Merchant, Mushtaq Ali, Rusi Modi, Ghulam Ahmed and Fazal Mehmood were not available. The selectors, in their own wisdom, replaced these stalwarts with Rahul Dravid-like players - Ranvirsinhji, Rai Singh, J K Irani, S W Sohoni and Gul Mohammad. The tour was a disaster and India lost the series.

No one would have thought of the Rahul Dravid disaster if India had won that Dhaka game against the West Indies. In the team triumph, individual performances or the lack of them tend to be forgotten. This fact had helped several 'Rahul Dravids' in the Indian film industry. Take the instance of actor Rajendra Kumar, who during the 1950s and 60s, was associated with quite a few box-office hits and came to be known as the 'Jubilee Kumar.' But the harsh fact was that like Rahul Dravid in one-day cricket, Rajendra Kumar was a misfit in the profession of acting.

But then how did he manage to survive and star in so many successful hits? The simple reason was that most of the films were propped by the heroines and also had wonderful music. Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Vyjayantimala and Asha Parekh, co-starring opposite Rajendra Kumar came out with stirring performances and the films managed to succeed in spite of Rajendra Kumar. But no one bothered with this fact so long the films were successful. But once Kumar's films failed to click at the box office, no producer was willing to give him roles. Rajendra Kumar quietly faded away into oblivion. I hope Rahul Dravid takes the hint and retires from one-day cricket.

Dravid is also like some of our leading politicians who make a lot of noise in the media, impress the bigwigs of the party leadership and continue to occupy high posts. A typical example is Delhi Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj who always behaves as though she knows the answers to all questions. Pulling her saree pallav around her and putting on a sati savitri expression, Sushma, for several years had the media eating out her of hand. When her political career was closely analysed, it could be seen that she had done next to nothing. After becoming the chief minister of Delhi, Sushma promised to bring down the prices of onions, provide the capital with adequate power and water and tackle the law and order situation with vigour. Unfortunately, everything continues to be the same in the capital and today, even for the media, the sheen over Sushma is wearing off fast.

Rahul Dravid may not be a media manipulator like Sushma Swaraj. But the media had built a halo around him. The cricket writers went ga-ga over the 'supreme batting technique' of Rahul Dravid. He could bat endlessly and by the close of play score 70 runs in 360 minutes of play. So what? One of his predecessors in the Indian team Sanjay Manjrekar, was also praised for his excellent batting technique. The cricket writers did not understand that if batsmen like Manjrekar and Dravid are in the team, India could never win a Test match and their snail-like approach would even keep the crowds away from the Test matches. What did 'excellent technique' mean? Pushing and prodding endlessly, not scoring runs for several overs and allowing the initiative to pass on to the batsmen.

The hue and cry among the Indian scribes over the omission of Dravid from the earlier one-day matches, must, hopefully die down. This bloke is okay for 'Pepsi' ads where surrounded by shrill-sounding girls, he bats endlessly, trying to improve his 'technique.' If the technique improved any more, Rahul Dravid, would not score any more runs. Let us have less of perfect technique, maiden overs in one-dayers and more of unorthodoxy and aggression in the Indian batting. Everyone cannot be a Sachin Tendulkar, but then let them not bat like Rahul Dravid.