The Follow-on tirade

The Follow-on tirade

A lot has been made of Rahul Dravid’s decision to not enforce the follow-on in the England second innings of the Oval test. The media, the former players’ union and the public at large have come out with their judgement on the “What should have been ?” and the “What could have been” of Dravid’s decision of batting on. To me, all these rants and raves look retrospective. The popular mindset, including mine and the others who couch along and stare the television felt that India should have enforced the follow-on, but rightly so, the public does not run the eleven on the field. And similarly, the former players have had their days at leading the team, and now, critiquing the current lot seems a very good occupation, sigh !

I had a very fierce argument with one of my relatives the other day about this decision. I was of the opinion that Dravid should have stuck England in on the fourth day morning, as I felt that “the pressures of playing in a follow-on situation are something different by themselves” and 319 runs were indeed daunting. He brought out his experience of watching the game for over three decades and in defence of Dravid said, “Boss, he did it right, he had to secure the series first.” After that is done, I ask myself, what looks prettier when my grandchildren revisit this tour, a 1-0 win or something bigger, by which I mean a 2-0 win. Of course, there are pros and cons to everything one does and says. And I do back my belief that Leeds and Kolkata do not happen every now and then.

Was it defensive captaincy or smart captaincy ? The answer to this question might be as complicated as the context itself. As usual, there was a slight tinge of complacency that had crept into the team by the time Monty was given out. It didn’t need a nuclear scientist (the rocket has taken off) to make out that the bowlers were lacking the intensity upfront. Their deeds smelt of the “chalta hai yaar, we have to just bat for a while” attitude. Now, that was wrong. A stroll in the park was all they thought and set-out with, but it turned out to be a planless effort. If the Indians were petrified with the thought of Michael Vaughan and his team putting 450 runs on the board on a fourth and fifth day wicket, Jerry would be laughing. Yes, knowing that we Indians do not chase down totals that seem innocuous (go back to Barbados 1997, when India crumbled with 120 to get or for that matter Chennai 2001, when India huffed and puffed with a target just over 150 against the Aussies), Dravid might have decided to take the other route.

Today, some section of the press came out with this rhetoric about Zaheer Khan making a statement saying, “I was not tired.” And one of the lesser-watched English news channels started tinkering with a possibility of Zaheer being a divisive force in the team. Questions like “Is he going to play the ODIs” propped up. An act of shameful seduction by the Press Trust of India, and with the Indian players so pathetically poor in media relations, they give out such ambiguous answers that become subject to personal and material interpretation. Obviously, they might have asked stupid questions like, “Did Rahul inform you ahead of taking the decision ?”, or more likely, “Zaheer, were you tired ?”, to which Zaheer would have said “No.” After all, he cant make himself sound stupid by saying, “Oh. Yes, I was tired after bowling X number of overs.” If that were the answer, question marks over his fitness would have just popped out of nowhere. This whole incident is nothing short of being dramatised and cashed in upon.

Utter non-sense I say. A man who ended up with 18 wickets is the matter of discussion in a totally non-existent context. Zaheer’s statement was perhaps misconstrued, misinterpreted and played with accordingly to suit the press’ needs. There was no damning need to make this a major issue.

It is so easy to sit and comment. I made the blunder of vehemently putting forth my point, but I think I justified it with facts, history and situations, unlike the media, which is just going hammer and tongs about something that “never should have been” under the scanner. Now you have one answer to the question posed right upfront. In the meanwhile, the tirade just continues...