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The second sense

A recent development in Indian cricket failed to get the usual attention any other story would normally have. I guess it’s understandable given how mesmerised the Indian cricket fan is by Ganguly’s astute leadership and the winning touch.

Well, the development is the crowning of Rahul "The Wall" Dravid as the new vice-captain of India. The post of vice-captaincy in India is similar to that of the Indian President. You get that extra luxury of getting a room to yourself while touring and other perks while you don’t have to do anything special other than what you are in the team for, bat or bowl. Especially, when the captain of the team is an Azharuddin or a Tendulkar, guys who have too much pride to rope in the wisdom of their deputy.

The lack of authority and accountability of the post is probably one reason why Rahul was given the job in the first place, in spite of his lack of experience leading a side in a first class game. Ian Healy commented recently during India’s tour of Australia that both Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh never took a major decision without consulting him when he was the vice-captain of the team and also why it is too early for Shane Warne to be the captain of the Australian side when he has been the vice-captain of the team for hardly a year or so. When so much importance has been attached to the very same position in a country where cricket is flourishing, why not take a leaf out of their hat and stick it in ours? I know, I know, we are a quarter century behind Australia in cricket but hey, let’s try and bridge the gap..

This is how I see the role of a vice–captain. The job requirements of the people leading a national cricket team is, well to put it mildly, astronomical. If you are thinking bowling changes, field setting, batting order, well, that’s only 10 per cent of the job. The other 90 per cent is totally off the field. To name a few, analyse every player’s strengths and weaknesses, talk one to one with the players both technically and personally, communicate the player’s and the team’s needs to the Board, study the opposition, make game plans, assess the playing conditions and pick a playing eleven accordingly etc etc..

You are asking me what the coach is for? Well, Kapil is too busy fighting with Lele and showering brotherly love to the boys! So, let's just leave the Indian coach out of the picture until the day BCCI understands the requirements of a coach and hires Bob Woolmer as the coach, to name one.

The tasks mentioned above have to be shared by the captain and the vice-captain. Two minds always work more efficiently than one (unless ofcourse they belong to Kapil and Lele, enough of that anyway..) and besides it helps the vice-captain to learn what to do and what not to do. So, the choice of vice-captaincy has to be from one of the following two, either someone who is good enough to be a captain right then or a young lad who has shown enough captaincy skills to groom him as a future captain.

Which is why the choice of Rahul Dravid beats me! Some of the teams Rahul Dravid plays for are India Cements, Karnataka, South Zone and India. Surprise, surprise, he has not captained any one of these teams consistently. Sure, there has been the odd game when Kumble excused himself and Rahul led his Karnataka side against Goa. Kumble has been the Karnataka captain for a while now and in his absence, Sunil Joshi leads the side. Dravid definitely doesn’t have the experience captaining a side and he would certainly not be a candidate for the captain’s job if Ganguly were to give it up tomorrow.

So that rules out one of the reasons why he should be the vice-captain; he is for sure not good enough to lead the team right now. That brings the second reason. Can we groom him as a future captain? I think not! If Ganguly were to give up the captaincy two years from now, I would not want Rahul Dravid leading the side.

To tell you why, I need you all to watch this funny movie, 'Analyze This'. Robert De Niro is this mafia Don going through emotional stress. He secretly sees this psychiatrist for help, but always concerned about the other families finding out about his problem. He says in his lovely Italian accent "If the other families find outh about my shrink, the whole system would fall apart, what good is an emotionally unstable head of the family."

Not long ago was Rahul Dravid so stressed out from his self-induced expectations of performing well in the most critical tour of his life; the man known for his classic "well-lefts" outside the off stump was found searching for it. The result was an abysmal tour to Australia followed up by a visit to his shrink. And if I am not wrong, he is still recovering from it. Dean Jones was telling Harsha Bhogle on air that Rahul must have lost atleast 20 pounds in Australia due to stress and gained a few wrinkles up his forehead. The last thing we want is a captain who doesn’t enjoy his job, we have learnt our lessons, haven’t we? I would rather have Sachin lead the side than Rahul, at least he scores at a healthy 50-plus average even when he is a reluctant captain. So, let us leave Rahul to do what he does best, classically leave the good length ball outside the off stump through to the keeper. So, who’s my choice?

In the recent one-day series against the Proteas, how many of you noticed this guy once known as Jonty Rhodes of India, a live wire who owned the cover point region and constantly cheered the bowlers and his fellow team mates? Yes, I am talking about Ajaysinghji Daulatsinghji Jadeja. What I saw during the matches against South Africa was appalling. Jadeja was seen apathetically patrolling the sweeper cover or deep mid wicket area with not a concern about the game plan in the middle. Was it just I or did you folks see a touch of indifference in his batting too? He has put in a pound or two after being unceremoniously denied a trip to Australia by no less than the Board president. The smile was missing when he walked up to the crease, there was touch of nervousness and total lack of timing while hitting the ball and on two occasions he was late on his shot ultimately dragging the ball to the stumps. I can’t help but attribute this sudden mood swing to the disappearance of Jadeja from the Indian captaincy scene. It’s no secret how hard Jadeja worked for a shot at Indian captaincy after Azhar was ruled unfit following the World Cup. All those trips to Bombay to meet with the former Board president and all the media lobbying he did goes to tell you how much the man wants the job.

Not so long ago he was captaining a young side to Kenya and earned a lot of praise for his leadership skills. In fact, Ganguly was his deputy in Kenya. It all changed when he suffered that injury before the Australian tour. To compound his problems, Ganguly came out with flying colours in the one-day triangular in Australia and Jadeja himself messed up a chance to resurrect his career when he failed miserably against the Kiwis and South African pace attack at home. Suddenly, Ganguly became 'The Man and Jadeja vanished into oblivion. You can’t help but imagine that Ganguly wants Jadeja nowhere near the 30 yard circle while he is making the calls. It’s all about who has got the power and unfortunately in this case, there is a danger of the man without the power losing his magic touch in the field. End result is the nonchalant patrolling of sweeper cover when he is a terrific fielder at point and a dissatisfied approach to batting.

The last thing we want is another tale of personal differences between two senior players. We have seen and heard enough of Gavaskar/Kapil and Azharuddin/Tendulkar. The need of the hour is the synergy between two great cricketing minds in Ganguly and Jadeja. Trust me, this is the tonic for a new era of Indian cricket. Didn’t I tell you all in my earlier column that Ganguly will become a great captain and why Jadeja shouldn’t find a place in the Test team? Agreed, it is a plus to have a vice-captain who plays both forms of the game. But not at the cost of losing Jadeja’s unquestionable cricketing sense, leadership and motivation skills. Imagine captain Ganguly and vice-captain Jadeja working together setting the field, plotting against the batsmen, not to mention Jadeja’s inspirational fielding in the inner circle lifting the entire team’s spirits. Ofcourse, did I mention Sachin at his best blazing with his bat and turning the ball from Bombay to Calcutta? Wow, life is good!

So, what’s the solution for a Test vice-captain? Honestly, we don’t have a good candidate right now, maybe Kumble can do the job. And like Raju Bharathan said, Tendulkar can always hand over his 10 different solutions to Ganguly and Saurav can pick the best one!

Tailpiece: It is so refreshing to see an outspoken Indian captain in Ganguly after a long time. Not just because we are winning under him, but because he is not prepared to play puppet to BCCI and instead willing to shape the Indian team to success. He is not afraid to point out how the team messed up a decent chase, especially Sachin for not staying till the end. (How many guys in Indian cricket can point a finger at Sachin, leave alone after he has just scored a hundred!). He is not afraid to back his decision to send Joshi up the order. He is quick to point out how much he believes in Joshi’s abilities and at the same time criticize Joshi when he let him down, rather than opting for say Utpal Chatterjee (remember Nilesh Kulkarni!).

If I were Joshi, I’d be motivated to live upto Ganguly’s expectations rather than be unsure about a captain who doesn’t believe in me and expresses that to the selectors instead of talking to me. He was quick to thrash the idea of the team travelling by train from Calcutta to Jamshedpur and above all, I loved the way he exposed the kind of politics guys like Ranbhir Singh play by calling him "a shame to Indian cricket". Kudos! Thanks to his openness, now we will know what the Indian captain thinks and also what insignificant people like Ranbhir Singh and Jaywant Lele do to Indian cricket!!