Dravid's inspirational comeback

After his successful Test debut following the car accident that cost him his right eye, Tiger Pataudi was asked when he thought he could make runs with only one eye. “When I saw the English bowling,” replied the player who was then not yet 21.

Whether Rahul Dravid thought he could make a century when he saw this English team and climb out of the hole he had been inhabiting in recent weeks is difficult to tell. After scores of 3 and 4 in the previous Test, he was probably among only a handful of people who thought that a century was round the corner.

Luckily that handful included his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who made the pertinent point that Dravid would continue to bat at No. 3 in Mohali because shifting him to No. 5 would mean India had already lost three wickets. It also included the selection committee, four of whose members had played for India and were thus able to empathise with a player of proven ability struggling to find his touch.

His fans can heave a sigh of relief. It has been torture watching this pillar of Indian cricket go through a phase when he couldn’t do anything right. But it has been inspiring to watch him get out of the slump using the same methods that have got him over 10,000 runs in Tests. The temptation to change your game is strongest when things are not going right, but Dravid had to bat like Dravid and rediscover his touch. Anything else would have lacked authenticity.

All of India seems to have been praying for him - not just his parents who, if newspaper reports are to be believed, visited a shrine in Mangalore to offer prayers. Soon after he completed his century, I got a phone call from a friend taking credit for the turnaround. “I didn’t move from my seat from the first ball he played till the last. I wore the same clothes, did everything in the same order over the two days,” he said in all seriousness. This is one of fandom’s oldest superstitions. By the same token, I am sure there were those who missed his century because they didn’t watch the first day’s play and so couldn’t watch the second day in case they brought their hero bad luck.

It is not true that only the media were on Dravid’s case; those who were most vicious in their criticism will point out that few batsmen have been given as many chances to come good as Dravid has. But 800-plus runs in the calendar year is not the worst batting performance in international cricket. Dravid was being judged by the standards he has set himself, and by that reckoning he fell short. More to the point, with every failure, he seemed to withdraw deeper into himself, and go to areas that he ought not to have revisited. The dark areas where failures, shortcomings and bad days in the office make their opposites seem like mirages.

Following the debacle in Sri Lanka, the so-called Fabulous Four have now reasserted themselves. Ganguly, Laxman and Tendulkar had already shaken off the horrors of that tour ... Dravid has finally got there, but what a heart-wrenching trip it has been!