Rahul Dravid and the World Cup arc of redemption

Players who are affected by trolling, social media abuse, and paid hashtags may feel like their predecessors had it easier, but they have had their own share of issues with bigotry. They might even say it was more hardcore back then. Or even in 2007, when India had just been eliminated from the World Cup in the first round.

Effigies were burned, stones were thrown at players’ homes and players were forced to change their travel plans at the last minute to escape angry fans waiting for them in their towns and villages. Irfan Pathan remembers being physically pushed and insulted by a man with whom he was sharing a queue at the airport. MS Dhoni did not visit Ranchi for days after his return to avoid any mishaps.

Rahul Dravid, if you believe what has been said and implied in the media, was just a meek, no-nonsense captain who let mean coach Greg Chappell run the team into the ground. There were two assumptions here: everything that happened under his captaincy was bad and he was incapable of being bad. His effigy was burned but he was still the good guy who could be forgiven once the bad Chappell was gone. A great foot soldier who should never have been a leader.

On the day India was eliminated from the World Cup, Dravid attended a grueling press conference in which he was asked if he was worried about the security situation in his country. It can be argued that you can ignore today’s memes or quit social media to stop cyberbullying, but how can you ignore physical threats to your physical well-being and that of your family?

However, memes don’t always have to be hurtful. They can also be clever narrators, like the latter involving Dravid East. It has all the ingredients to go viral. Emotions, redemption arc, cricket and the king of Bollywood. The meme draws parallels between Shah Rukh Khan’s character in Chak From India and Dravid. Both were “disgraced” as captains but redeemed themselves as coaches with world titles. None of them had instant success or acceptance as coaches.

If you show it to Dravid, he will probably lament the excessive attention paid to the coach. He could probably joke about his looks compared to Shah Rukh. If he is in a fiery mood, he could also point to a Test series victory in the West Indies when they were strong, a maiden Test victory in South Africa and a Test series victory in England under his captaincy. So not really disgraced.

However, memes should not be taken literally. In reality, Dravid neither hired a team of rubbish nor did it to redeem himself. He has long since forgotten that he was a player. He is a professional coach who doesn’t even believe that only cricketers can help his teams. And he took over a high-performing team made up of some of the best and most competitive professionals in the world.

In fact, Dravid’s unenviable job was one that came just after India had won the magical Test series without half of their first-choice players in Australia and held a 2-1 lead in a Test series in England. The team was going to be in transition under Dravid, and frequent injuries were going to make things worse.

Those who know more than results say that Dravid and Rohit Sharma have put in place proper processes for preparation and performance review, not in terms of results but execution. They brought sophistication and a preparation method: from data to pitches to techniques, everything was worked on. They provided a level of comfort through good communication. The players knew much better where they stood, what their roles were and how they could evolve.

Lest you feel like this makes people too comfortable, this Indiranagar ka Gunda meme isn’t completely fictional. He may not be the raving lunatic as portrayed in the ad, but he’s no comforter either. When Dravid has to be harsh, you make no mistake. Ask some of the players who have worked with Dravid at the Under-19 A-levels and in India, and you will know how colorful his language can get. He’s also not opposed to playing or pushing the line to increase his team’s advantage; remember he was once fined for ball tampering.

Many of the players Dravid worked with as India coach came through him at the developmental level. Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and even Kuldeep Yadav when he was down, all worked with him in the Under-19 or India A teams. is where Dravid helped lay the foundation of a talent pool for the national team.

Some thought it might be the best place for him. One of Dravid’s failures as captain was seen as his inability to satisfactorily convince Sachin Tendulkar that his batting at No. 4 was best for the team. Or his failure to turn off the tap on incessant media leaks, allegedly via Chappell, who was also filming a documentary on the side while coaching India. Or even the management of the release of Sourav Ganguly, which was essential at the time.

You see the pattern there: big names, whether it’s the disgruntled players or the offending coach, no matter how noble his intentions. It was believed that Dravid would do better to develop players before they become superstars.

Half of Dravid’s tenure was spent without a proper captain due to injuries. He didn’t fix what wasn’t broken. In a nod to the team’s previous management, he continued to play with four fast bowlers in overseas Tests.

From the time Rohit was regularly available as captain, Dravid made perhaps his greatest contribution to this team, dragging his intentions into modern times. One had to be convinced that even when there were collapses as above-average totals occurred, they rarely ended in a complete blowout. The superstars he worked with were no less than Tendulkar or Ganguly.

The results of this revolution, which Rohit bought into and then coached the rest of the team, were perhaps best seen during the World Cup semi-final. It is not difficult to imagine an Indian team not so long ago settling for 325 in these conditions. It was the extra intent that gave India the cushion to stay calm when Daryl Mitchell and Kane Williamson departed.

There’s also less “us against the world” nervousness on this team. Dravid is not averse to getting support from outside the sport. Virat Kohli recently credited his time with mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton, brought in during the last T20 World Cup but cut short because India failed to win the title, for the role that he played in its rebirth.

Throughout the World Cup, perhaps the first time at full strength under Dravid’s tenure, India looked like a team whose true potential had been unleashed. If they continue to play cricket in the same manner and the final turns out to be a rare blowout, it won’t take away from the progress they have made. Nonetheless, a final victory will make it even more special for a team unfairly criticized for failing to win the knockout matches despite a stellar record in the league stage.

And maybe the coach will take some time to remember the dressing room scenes as India lost to Sri Lanka in Port-of-Spain in 2007 – Indian cricket royalty, Tendulkar, Dravid, Anil Kumble, Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj. Singh all sat sullenly, on the verge of tears, as wicket after wicket fell. Tendulkar, Sehwag and Yuvraj were given another chance to win the World Cup and won it. Others don’t. This is not the case of everyone.

And then maybe Coach will make fun of it all with another meme featuring the King of Bollywood.