As my most avid readers have probably noticed, I have been scarce at my writing desk of late which I find regrettable, but amongst securing employment and many duties for the cricket club that I assist, summoning the will power to put thought to paper on cricket has been difficult. However I am back this week and hope to create momentum leading into the end of the season (although with Australia in the West Indies shortly (with Watson batting 3 in tests if you can believe it without vomiting a little) and England vs South Africa in the winter, there will still be plenty to write about). Below I take a look at Rahul Dravid's career and use it to explain why Sehwag cannot (or at least should not) be as highly regarded, something I have wanted to do for some time. Dravid once played very well in Hamilton so just call me opportunistic. What's worse is that I will also use this vague association to catch up on news from recent weeks. My apologies
I would like to start this week by expressing a couple of thoughts around the current series between New Zealand and the South African tourists. Although the results in the short forms of the game were disappointing, I was always most fascinated by what would happen in the test matches after the Black Caps' showing in Hobart and Napier. I was of the opinion before the test series that the result depended on the following things:
- Chris Martin's ability to get wickets - especially Smith as the captain who he has dismissed many times before
- The success of McCullum and Taylor in the middle-order against a very fine fast bowling attack and a more than useful spinner. Taylor's debut series was in South Africa and he was found wanting every time but he has grown a lot since then and is the captain as well. I will talk more about McCullum in a future post
- The form of Kallis and Amla. These two batsmen dominated our bowling the last time we faced them; they are the kinds of batsmen that get set in the middle and murder fast-medium attacks like ours. Only if we get them early, often and cheap do we stand a chance to match them as a batting line up
- Lastly, Vettori needs to break the habit of his career and get some wickets against South Africa. I have pointed this out before, his record against them is terrible. While Warne and Murali would feast on the Proteas' lack of confidence against spin bowling, Vettori has always struggled and if he is really the great spin bowler that people talk up, he needs to fix this blemish on his record (probably shouldn't have used the word 'fix'...)
As a final word on how New Zealand can win against South Africa, given any success lies with that of Vettori and Martin, the wickets must not be lifeless. The temptation is surely there to produce slow, flat decks to negate Steyn/Morkel/Philander but this would be a huge mistake in my opinion. I believe that the difference in the sides is between the batsmen, to a greater degree, than than the bowlers. There is so much experience and talent in the South African batting line up but if there is a bit of green in the wicket, the gap will narrow. I do not wish for another Hobart wicket - that would be too far - but don't fall into the trap of taking away the one area where both bowling line-ups are fairly equal: swing.
Now, this week the great Rahul Dravid finally retired and here is the obligatory statistical summary:
Test Career: 1996-2012
13,288 runs @ 52.31 with 36 centuries and 63 half-centuries
High score of 270
210 catches
(he also made almost 11,000 runs in ODI cricket)
Highlights include:
- 96 on debut at Lords, his first century was in South Africa, consecutive scores of 115, 148 and 217 in England (tour of 2002, plus 100* vs WI in his next innings) and 3 more centuries in England a decade later (last year when his team was thrashed 4-0)
However, to understand his true greatness and success it is helpful to compare him to his often over-hyped and certainly overrated, colleague Sehwag. Dravid is one of a rare breed of batsmen (certainly Indian ones) in that he averaged more away (53) than he did at home (51) and his career is littered with centuries in tough conditions:
- 233 to win the Adelaide test in 2003
- 270 in Rawalpindi to beat Pakistan by an innings (no other batsmen got passed 77) in 2004
- 190 and 103* in Hamilton 1999
- Multiple centuries in South Africa, England and the West Indies
His average in England was 68.80, in New Zealand 63.8, in Pakistan 78.6 and 65.7 in the West Indies. 21/36 centuries were outside India and he averaged an impressive 42 and 40 in the 3rd and 4th innings of tests respectively. Add to that, one of the most UNDER-stated innings, his 180 against Australia to help Laxman win after following on. Dravid could fight and achieve towering success when it really mattered and had the skill and temperament to do so in foreign/hostile conditions - his record vs Australia is not impressive but the two centuries that he scored against them were in the two famous victories mentioned above (Adelaide and Kolkata).
Sehwag on the other hand gains success out of a technique that spits on the idea of temperament and skill. He possesses amazing talent and nerve, I cannot deny him that, but his success is largely on dead wickets in the subcontinent and his record is terribly inflated as a result. He averages 27.8 in England, 20.00 in New Zealand, 25.46 in South Africa and even 35.2 in Bangladesh strangely. His record in India is impressive (average of 58), in Pakistan it is 91 and in Sri Lanka it is 69. Both of his triple centuries were in the sub-continent which leads me to label him, nothing more or less, the greatest exponent of the flat-track bully cricket has seen; Graeme Hick retired in 2001 and Sehwag debuted a few months later to carry the standard into the new millennium. I don't want to sound like I am getting at him personally, I have a grudging respect for what he is able to do, but those who so foolishly champion him as Tendulkar-like earn my scorn. Dravid has been the only contemporary Indian batsman to deserve a place anywhere near Tendulkar...
...until the appearance of Virat Kohli who just scored his 10th ODI century at the age of 23. He may yet impress further
Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again
It's good bye for now
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