"Dravid is an honourable man" or "Beware of the Ides of December"

As you can guess from the title, I am drawing inevitable historic-literary parallels. It would be hard to not think of Ganguly as Caesar and Dravid as Brutus. And it is in this parallel that lies a big lesson for Rahul Dravid.

Brutus, addressing the people of Rome for the first time after caesar's murder said,

Dravid too may well give this defence....it is not that he loved Ganguly less, for the two started their careers together, fought many battles together, as did Brutus and caesar, and were good friends for a long period of time. Yet, there came a stage where Ganguly's leadership degraded enough to cause serious problems for the team. For the sake of the well-being of Team India, Ganguly had to go. Dravid can thus plead, that he loved the team more. He could ask, had you rather Ganguly was playing and India be a weak team, than that Ganguly were dropped, and India do well?

All very valid questions. But staying with the parallel, even though the reasons for the removal of Caesar might have been right, the manner of his removal was wrong. Caesar, one of the most valiant generals of Rome, deserved more dignity than being ambushed and killed like a common traitor. The Roman senate gave a lot of leeway to Caesar early on. Rather than nip the problem in the bud, they let it fester. And later, just clumsily assassinated him. The Indian selectors too, first gave Ganguly too much security, even when he had very long bad patches. And later, when he actually showing some form, clumsily ambushed him like a match-fixer. Just like Caesar, he first got more respect and power than he deserved, and in the end, didn't even get the dignity he deserved. What is surprising is that Rahul Dravid proved himself to be as capable of doublespeak as the BCCI office-bearers. In public, he praised Ganguly, but in private voted against him. Chappell too, in public, as if playing a cruel joke on Ganguly, called him a "mentor" for the team. In private, he played Cassius, masterminding the whole operation.

Mark Antony, addressing the people of Rome said,

I come to bury Ganguly, not praise him. I think the reasons for dropping Ganguly are right - he doesn't fit with the plan, the spat with Chappell was irreconciliable, he started it by going public, having him in the team may lead to factionalism...etc etc.... justifications for the manner and the timing of the decision will seem as flimsy as Brutus' justifications for murdering Caesar. A decorated General deserves a dignified exit.

I always thought of Rahul Dravid as the guy who could do no wrong - pure as driven snow. He must be knowing that what is happening is wrong. If differences between them ran deep for years and years, his course of action is understandable. But from what all reports suggest, until the Nagpur test against Australia, the two were thick as thieves. Not just as a friend and as a loyal deputy, but even as an intelligent cricketer, Dravid will acknowledge the huge contributions Ganguly made to the team's resurgence and some of its most famous wins, not just as a captain, but even as a batsman. It was Ganguly who picked up the gauntlet in Australia with his century. It was Ganguly who marshalled a Tendulkar-less-Laxman-less India to a victory in the Kandy test after Dravid had been dismissed. It was Ganguly who, with a blazing 40-odd started the famed fightback with Laxman at Eden Gardens, which was later carried on by Dravid. It was Ganguly who scored a quickfire century keeping Tendulkar company in Headingley as India piled up a mountain of runs and Tendulkar inched closer to his first double century abroad.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill said Mark Antony.

Ganguly may have played all the cards wrong in the last year or so. He may deserve all the fury and contempt that Chappell and Dravid seem to have for him. But he also deserves to be treated with dignity. The right thing for Dravid to do would have been to take a stand and chalk out a clear-cut exit plan for Ganguly. Have a frank chat with Ganguly, and leave him alone with a gun and a single bullet, metaphorically speaking. Tell him that things have reached a point of no return, but that he still deserves to go out like a General. Give him a leeway of a few tests and suggest to him that he announce his retirement. Surely, they could afford to give him that much leeway. After all, there is no one literally banging on the door of the batting lineup like VVS was in 2001 with his dozen or so consecutive first class hundreds. If the selectors really expect us to believe that Yuvraj is in a 2001-VVS-esque pristine form right now, then they think we do not understand cricket. Even in this test, he was dismissed cheaply in the first innings, not understanding spinners at all, and in the second innings led a charmed life.

And if the selectors and Chappell are really serious about planning the future, they need to pick Kaif in the XI, or pick Venugopal Rao instead of Jaffer. It's been five years of international cricket, and Yuvraj is still just as clueless about even moderate-quality spin bowling. If you're telling me he is the best option, you've got to be kidding me. He is, however from Punjab, Bindra's state. And Jaffer is from Mumbai, Pawar's backyard.

SO what has changed? Ganguly was given a longer lease than he deserved because he was Dalmiya's blue-eyed boy. The same thing is being repeated. Chappell and Dravid need to realise that the problems with the Indian cricketing set-up run a lot deeper than just one Ganguly or one Dalmiya. They are so obsessed with removing him, that not only are they denying him the dignity he deserves, but also supporting lesser players like Yuvraj or Jaffer, who are being pushed in because of parochialism, as opposed to surer bets like Kaif and Rao. They are making a martyr out of Ganguly, just like Caesar, because now even his harshest critics have come out in his support.

I am sure Dravid realises all this. He ought to have taken a saner stand. Yet, if press reports are to be believed, he remained silent during the entire selection committee meeting, and let Chappell do most of the talking.