The Hindu : Sport : Skipper Dravid holds fond memories of England

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Wednesday, Jun 20, 2007
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Skipper Dravid holds fond memories of England

G. Viswanath

Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Kumble’s last tour of England
The skipper faces an uphill task this time

Mumbai: Rahul Dravid’s memoirs of Old Blighty so far are filled with standout and classic performances.

The Lord’s ambience in 1996 was just the setting that inspired him to prove his mettle after fleeting appearances in four one-day matches at Singapore and Sharjah. The 23-year-old, then a probationer and far removed to comprehend the pressures of cricket a notch over India’s first class cricket, bloomed with a 95 in his first Test match innings at the famous venue near St. John’s Wood. Since that midsummer day in June eleven years ago, Dravid, more often seen stoically battling it out in a majority of his 109 Tests, has not allowed his appetite to score runs to dull on English soil.

Six summers after his debut in England, Dravid was the bulwark of the Indian middle-order phalanx in the four-Test series India repelled after going down in the first match at Lord’s. Facing an assorted battery of fast, swing and seam bowlers in Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Steve Jones, Andrew Caddick, Alex Tudor, Craig White and Dominic Cork, Dravid lined up impressive scores of 46 and 63 (Lord’s), 13 and 115 (Trent Bridge), 148 (Leeds) and 217 (The Oval) for a fine aggregate of 602 at 100.33.

Masterpiece

Dravid’s masterpiece of course was the 148 in the first innings of the third Test at Headingley, Leeds. Taking guard at the fall of Virender Sehwag’s wicket at 15, Dravid emerged with a top-dog performance, demonstrating the technique to tackle the England bowlers. Absence of low clouds did not help England’s cause, but the seasoned practitioners of swing and cut demanded correct footwork and judgment to leave the ball. Dravid’s ally in the salvage operations was Sanjay Bangar whose discerning head and a combination of capacity and craft kept the England attack at bay. The pair made 170 for the second wicket and thereafter Sachin Tendulkar hammered 193 and Sourav Ganguly 128 as India positioned a match-winning total of 628.

Doubtless, Dravid’s 307-ball 148 with 23 boundary shots was the polestar innings on the basis of which India advanced positively and eventually won the series-levelling Test by an innings and 46 runs. Dravid signed off with a superb 217 at The Oval which was Tendulkar’s 100th Test.

Extraordinary record

It’s on the back of two excellent outings in England that Dravid would arrive in England in the first week of July after the first part of the long series is completed in Ireland and Scotland. His record against England is quite extraordinary; a dozen Tests and 1220 runs (average 71.76) with seven fifties and three centuries. He was awarded the India cap for the first time at the Lord’s in 1996, eleven years hence he is a hardened professional, with 109 Test caps and 634 runs short of 10,000 runs, a veteran of 315 one-day internationals and more significantly as captain of the Indian team.

Five years ago, Parthiv Patel’s heroics in the Trent Bridge Test, along with Zaheer Khan, inspired the Indians to come back strongly in the last two Tests at the Leeds and The Oval. This time around, Dravid will be without Sehwag, who was converted into an opener on the 2002 tour because Ganguly and coach John Wright thought such a talented batsman cannot warm the bench, and also Bangar. He has Tendulkar (1,766 runs against England in 19 Tests) and Ganguly (734 runs against England in nine Tests) to bank on. He will also expect Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble to take the extra load to offset the inexperienced seam attack.

Last tour

Without doubt it will be the last tour of England for Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Kumble.

Dravid faces an uphill task to maintain the form India showed after the Lord’s Test in 2002. Clearly he would expect Wasim Jaffer (second tour of England) to show the consistency and Dinesh Karthik to rise to the occasion. How he would fit in V.V.S. Laxman (43 not out and 74 at Lord’s in 2002) into the scheme of things has to be seen.

Yuvraj Singh could stake a large claim after missing out the Test series five years ago.

An injured finger did not prevent him from making a 69 in the NatWest final. Laxman was not keen on opening the innings in 2002, but may find himself pushed into it on this tour.

The seam attack might change should Ajit Agarkar (109 not out at the Lord’s in 2002) surpass himself in Ireland and Scotland.

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