Joining the pantheon

There is an expressive saying in Hindi, "Jo jita woh Sikandar." Roughly translated, it means that only winning matters and the winner is then automatically invested with all possible virtues. So a great deal will be said and written about India's cricket captain, Rahul Dravid, whose team has just won the Test series in the West Indies for the first time in 35 years""after getting a 1-4 drubbing in the one-day series. Dravid may not have all the virtues that go to make a successful leader, but he has the most important of them""consistency. In every field of human endeavour, people admire flair, talent, brilliance, genius, etc. But few realise, or appreciate adequately, that in the end what delivers the goods is consistently good performance rather than a string of brilliant ones punctuated by an equally long string of duds. This is where Dravid scores, as it were. Moreover, his contributions have come when the team needed them most. His presence at the crease may not make bowlers quake; but it certainly makes them despair.

His averages speak for themselves. His Test average, an amazing 58.75, puts him among the game's half-dozen all-time best. His run aggregate in Tests (9,049) does the same. And in terms of consistency of scoring a minimum of 40 runs when he goes out to bat, he ranks second only to Bradman. Not surprisingly, he has been a permanent element in the Indian team for 10 years, playing in 104 Tests, and in the public mind he now joins the batting pantheon to keep company with Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. His 23 centuries may not compare with their 34 and 35, but on every other front he has equalled their contribution to Indian Test cricket, if not surpassed them.

In the one-day version (where he has played nearly 300 games), his average is a more modest 40.20, and he has scored only 12 centuries; but that is because he usually gets to play only 25-30 overs since he does not open the innings. The more appropriate point is that he has scored 71 half-centuries (consistency again) and taken 174 catches. He has also stumped 14 batsmen because Dravid can keep wickets, too. It is a pity that only those who can bat and bowl are counted as all-rounders. Surely, a top order batsman who keeps wickets almost as well as a specialist also deserves that description. When he opens the innings as well, as Dravid has sometimes done after 50 overs of keeping, the description is triply deserved.

As the World Cup approaches, the question will be asked: will Dravid be as consistent in winning as he has been in his batting? His record so far is not inspiring. To the extent that winning or losing depends on the performance of the other 10 players as well, this may be an unfair comparison, but as captains like Allan Border, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh have demonstrated, a great deal depends on the leader also. There are two elements in this. One, of course, is the captain's own batting contribution; Dravid does not need to worry on that count. The other element is aggressive captaincy, and perhaps Dravid needs to lead differently. He has become captain only recently, so he may still learn how to best marshal his forces on the field.