10 December 2005

Rahul Dravid - True Leader

Virender Sehwag got ill and was not available to play in the second
cricket test match against Sri Lanka. Whole Indian cricket following
public, experts and non-experts, were discussing about the possible
opening partner for Gautam Gambir, in the absense of Sehwag.

Names doing the rounds for opening the innings were largely confined to
Yuvraj Singh, M.S. Dhoni and Very Very Special Laxman. Some would have
even thought that Saurav Ganguly might be asked to open the innings.

A slightly ill Rahul Dravid went out for the toss, won it and elected to
bat. The cricket fans were still speculating about the opening
combination. The match got delayed by about 30 minutes and so they
needed to wait for some more time to know about the opening combination.

And then the match started. The Sri Lankan team went out to field. There
came the opening pair. It was the Rahul Dravid himself who walked
alongside Gautam Gambir as the opener, to surprise of a lot of people.

Dravid had the the choices, as speculated by the public, Yuvraj, Dhoni,
Laxman, Ganguly etc. But, he didn't want to make the youngsters nervous
(Yuvraj & Dhoni) and didn't want to put further pressure on the senior
players struggling to retain their places (Laxman & Ganguly). So he
decided to go out to bat as an opener.

If you keep saying anyone should be ready to bat anywhere in the order,
then it should also include yourself.

That to me displayed his character and his true leadership qualities.
Hats off to you Rahul. Keep it up!!!

This display of high character by Rahul would have motivated the younger
team members to a great extent.

Hats off once again!!!

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