The Hindu : Sport : Pressures, challenges spur him on

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Wednesday, Jul 05, 2006

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Sport

Pressures, challenges spur him on

S. Ram Mahesh

IN COMPLETE COMMAND: The historic series win in the West Indies is a just reward for Rahul Dravid's astute leadership and hard work. — PHOTO: AP

Kingston: Over the last five years, Rahul Dravid, the batsman, has conquered icy peaks. When coach Greg Chappell — a great in Australian cricket — says the Indian skipper is "one of the best anywhere, anytime", you can sense his respect and the admiration.

Few cricketers in the history of cricket have shown the strength of will and mind the 33-year-old has. Where does he get it from? "One of the things I really enjoy about batting besides making runs is the contest, competing," Dravid said in an interview.

"Whenever you get a chance, I see it as an opportunity to compete against the best players in the world. It (captaincy) takes a lot out of me, I wouldn't say as a batsman, but it takes a lot out of you as a person. Its demands on time are a lot more, and the pressures are a lot more. I guess when you are doing well, and are successful it's a lot easier. You have your tough days, no doubt about it."

Competitive urge

What went through his mind as he walked out to bat on the first day at Sabina Park? "I was excited because I knew it was going to be a challenge... once you see the dice is loaded in the favour of the bowlers, the competitive urge in you comes out. That excited me - the fact that I could push myself and make a difference to the game."

Dravid, who became the sixth man to cross 9,000 Test runs, admitted in the interview that he felt pressure when batting. "I'm not claiming to be anything different from anyone else. I feel pressure and I get tense as any other player does," he said. "You've got to accept it's going to be part and parcel of your life. You've got to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. You've got to ensure you don't lose it mentally, and don't go away from your basic plans."

He spoke of perspective - "to understand that in the end of the day what we are doing is playing a sport" — that kicked in "probably around 2000-2002" helping his game. There was, he said, a period of his career when he got "too tense". As captain, Dravid has had to make tough calls on team composition — leaving out players like Laxman and Pathan is never easy. "The selectors make a call with regards to the squad, and when it comes down to the playing eleven it's my call," he said.

"There is obviously Greg (Chappell) and Viru (Sehwag) sitting with me in the team management meeting, but finally who plays and who doesn't play — the final call is always mine. And it's not easy to keep people outside the playing eleven, and you know they are going to get upset about it."

On the view that the current team management getting the team it wanted being a bad thing, Dravid said, "For a long time I kept hearing the argument that a captain and a coach should get what they want! Maybe an impression gets created that we get what we want. I'm here to tell you that that's not always the case. Sometimes what I might want and what Greg Chappell might want may not be the same thing, so it's not that me and Greg agree on every single issue."

Gut-feel decisions

The most fascinating nugget of the interview was when he let on — as he so rarely does — about gut-feel decisions being a function of thought "It's been brewing obviously, it's not something that flashes out of nowhere. It's come in your mind because you have been thinking about it. You are assimilating information. And based on that information you have to go with your hunches or your gut feeling.

"As long as you have given it thought — all your hunches and even your gut has got to be based on some sort of reasoning, I mean, even at the subconscious level."

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