A humble response to untimely celebrations

Rahul Dravid

Yes, the world will never see Rahul Dravid grinding it out on the field again. Yes, it was the Little Master’s last innings in limited overs cricket. Yes, emotions take over when it comes to demigods like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, two of the finest batsmen (and gentlemen) in contemporary cricket. So, it was obvious that the final of the Champions League T20 had immense value in terms of crowd sentiment, apart from being just another exciting cricketing encounter between two of the best teams at the ultimate stage of the tournament.

With emotions running so high, everyone (including Sachin and Rahul, I assumed) wasn’t just looking for an interesting match, but also hoping to see these living legends score some runs and sign off with a flair. The crowd went berserk when the country’s most adored sportsman started the proceedings with a couple of boundaries. The familiar chorus of ‘Sa-chinnn, Sa-chin, clap-clap-clap’ echoed across Feroz Shah Kotla, before the hundred-machine got out to a beauty from Shane Watson. Clean bowled. Now that is disappointing for any batsman, no matter how many runs he has scored in that innings, let alone the lingering thought of the fact that he is never going to bat again. Out for 15, a disgruntled Tendulkar was cheered louder than ever as he walked off towards the pavilion; not just by the crowd, but by his own teammates, too. David Warner, on Australia’s last tour to India, said that a player, as an individual, is given much more importance than the team by the media and the people of the country.

For a while, it seemed like the fans, the commentators and even Sachin’s own teammates had put the context of the match aside and were just keen on showing their respect to the man and the end of his glorious batting career. This is a classic example of appreciation shown at the wrong time. Now that, I believe, is adding insult to injury. It would’ve been another story altogether had he gotten out after scoring a substantial amount of runs in the match. Nevertheless, a helpless Sachin acknowledged everyone, understanding the sentiment behind this untimely appreciation.

A standing ovation for a world class batsman who has just been bowled without scoring seems totally inappropriate, doesn’t it?

The same happened when Rahul Dravid, in an effort to achieve the steep required run rate, got out to a stunning yorker from Nathan Coulter-Nile. Dravid fanatics were left high and dry as the Royals’ skipper decided to hold himself back and sent Perera, Samson, Watson, Binny, Yagnik, and Cooper ahead of him in pursuit of the massive total of 203. This selfless and somewhat justified decision saw Dravid coming in to bat in the 18th over with too much left to be done. As he departed for 1 to Coulter-Nile’s lethal yorker, the scene was similar to the one after Sachin’s dismissal in the first innings. The crowd erupted as if Dravid had just hit one of his trademark flicks for a boundary, to bring up his century! His team patted his back with broad smiles on their faces, as if he had just won the match for the Royals.

The last thing that you would expect from players like Dravid is to play their last game for their own pleasure. He could have, in fact, nonchalantly walked in with Rahane at the top of the order, where he usually bats. But India’s ‘sacrifice man’, the superlative degree of selflessness, looking at the daunting total, must have felt that some of the other players’ hitting abilities could be put to good use on this occasion, and held himself back in the batting order. Some might say that it wasn’t a very wise decision, but at least he showed the intent to win! Anyway, by the time he came out to bat, the Mumbai Indians had already secured a grip on the match. He wouldn’t have been very happy with this reaction from the crowd and his colleagues post his dismissal, especially because it was a good ten minutes before the match had finished.

Anticlimax was the only word that came to mind while watching the game last night. The existence of a certain player (no matter how special he is) taking center-stage in a team game is inexplicable.

Why can’t the celebrations and the overflow of ‘respect’ and the outburst of ‘appreciation’ be put on hold till the end of the match? Again, it would be justified, had they played a substantial innings on the day. But neither of them did. So it didn’t make sense to me.

Nonetheless, the polite gentlemen that they are, both stalwarts responded rather humbly to the ovation and enjoyed the celebrations once the match was over. The world shall remember them for much more than just their prolific batting exploits!