Wall's well
Judhajit
25-Feb-2013
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You get on in years, you learn, you change. You're no more the man you were, say, in 2001. That's very much true for Rahul Dravid.
Nearly eight years ago in Kolkata, Dravid scored a brilliant century against Australia – though put into the shade by a bigger innings from VVS Laxman – and celebrated with a vengeance. He took off his helmet, brandished his bat and poked it, without much kindness on his face, towards the press box.
This time around in Mohali, when he got to his century, though, a happier Dravid could have been expected; but his reaction was restrained. Rohit Mahajan in Outlook explains why he's no more the man he once was.
The subdued reaction did not go unnnoticed, as Achint Gupta in Espnstar.com recounts the dab down fine-leg off James Anderson, as Rahul Dravid was off to one of the most significant single he has taken.
Probably, all the hue and cry around him leading up to the Test match had made him numb or it was just that Dravid knew that he always had it in him. With this century, he ensured that those who haven't ever experienced ‘been-there-done-that' situations, never utter a word about brushing aside cobwebs.
Almost everybody in the Indian team curerntly has tasted the sweet flavour of each other's success; maybe, that was really the missing piece in the jigsaw called Indian cricket. Bobili Vijay Kumar in his column in the Times of India writes on how the turnaround was brought about.
There are tales, and then there are tales, one more incredible than the other, about Virender Sehwag.
Shane Warne narrates a delectable one in his recent book. Playing for Leicestershire against Middlesex, Sehwag found Abdul Razzaq reverse-swinging the ball alarmingly.
He called his batting partner Jeremy Snape over and said he had a plan. "We must lose this ball," Sehwag said matter-of-factly. Next over, Viru smashed the ball clean out of the ground. The ball was lost. The replacement ball would, obviously, not reverse right away. "We're all right for one hour," he told the non-striker, who told Warne. Mission accomplished.
Welcome to a distinctive ethos of cricket that is gaining fans with every cut, drive and loft. Rohit Mahjan looks at the concept called Sehwagism.
It means that its practitioner takes the rule book, tears it up, and traduces every principle. Implicit in this credo is the greatest possible belief in your own abilities, and none for your foe's record or reputation. It involves making choices and sticking to them. It means not allowing kindness to trespass between you and the bowler.