Fifteen Lessons Called Life (Part 1)

Rahul Dravid made his international debut exactly 15 years back... Hats off to the man who defines hard work, consistency, and the perfect attitude. You are my idol, and will always remain, because you are not perfect but you are the only being I see heading towards perfection in every way and so the most perfect among less perfect people.

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Fifteen Lessons You Can Take Home

This day in history is a golden day for Indian sports, albeit with silver polish, carrying with it the value of gold without as much show. Rahul Dravid, a name who instills calmness in the minds of people, made his international debut on April 3 1996, against Sri Lanka, in a Singer Cup 50-over game. Let’s just take a ride in front through the period in a different way.

Year 1: April 3 1996 to April 2 1997

Immediately arriving on scene, he didn’t do well in the younger format of the two premier formats. With five solid years of first class experience, it was on him to restore some faith in domestic experience and uncompromising hard work. He did just that. With a ninety-five at lord’s batting at five-down, making useful partnerships with Ganguly, Kumble, Srinath and even Mhambrey. Anyone else would’ve been disappointed at not making a hundred but he saw it as glass half-full than empty. The moment came, if we can call it. Though not a fan of hundreds, but the hundred and forty eight he made against South Africa was brilliance, coming one-down and making his maiden hundred in tough time. And the thing about him is not giving up. He was 9th down in his first Test innings, and here he was last wicket to fall. Again, he had brilliant partnerships with Srinath and Kumble. And then came 2nd innings where he paced up by 15 runs a hundred balls and scored an eighty-odd. This became a routine, he was never happy performing once in a match, he would never give up until it’s over. Same thing happened with his ODI career, where he ultimately grew in confidence. And made it count. As he did on 13th February 1997. He made eighty-four against South Africa chasing reduced total of two-fifty-one in forty overs. India didn’t win. The next days headlines said ‘South Africa won the cup, India won the hearts’. And he was the man that powered it to earn the first man of the match in ODIs. He also made notable contributions in the Test tour to West-Indies, a tough country to tour during those days.

Lesson No. 1: Self-Belief

Whatever you do in life, it takes a certain amount of self-belief. He might have failed in a few ODIs but he made it count in them too because he believed in what he did and didn’t go for a complete change, rather rocked the format he was more home to, the classical format, and adapted a bit to the younger format. He believed he had it in him to make big, to adapt according to the situation, to make runs with the Indian lower order famous for falling before you say Bat, and to do all this in Tests coming from a bad ODI debut and knowing he is in as a replacement for someone considered highly (Sanjay Manjrekar) so might be dropped even after performing.

Year 2: April 3 1997 to April 2 1998

This was the year when Rahul Dravid made his maiden ODI hundred, May 21st 1997. Obviously, it was the ODI where Saeed Anwar made hundred-ninety-four. So, Dravid didn’t get mention much, the way his whole career was going to be, the way it happened when he made ninety-five on debut and Ganguly made a hundred. Though the interesting thing was he carried the team on his shoulders almost seventy percent of the chase. And the rest just fell short. But in those days, three twenty odd runs weren’t chase-able. This young man proved the people wrong when he played his classical game to power India’s chase. And later, he would go on finishing rather than just making paths obviously learning from his mistake of leaving it mid-way. Nevertheless, an unassuming ODI cricketer had arrived, probably the one who’ll make runs look easy without power plays and all, batting in mid-overs and won’t draw much attention to himself. In nine innings when Sri Lanka (4 innings – 3 fifties) and Australia (5 innings – 3 fifties), he didn’t go on to make big score but made consistency appear his forte rather than any other form.

Lesson 2: Do Your Work, Don’t Fret Over Results

Being in the sidelines mostly, but slowly making his mark, he made this old Bhagwad Geeta saying and therefore the Geeta itself proud. Nothing was supposed to affect this monk of cricket.,

Year 3: April 3 1998 to April 2 1999

Consistency was soon to become the second name of Dravid as he slowly established himself as an integral part of the ODI set-up scoring consistently, and peaking the right time before the World Cup. He was consistent, he scored fifties, he converted a few, and he was the perfect person to hold the line-up together with famed openers, but not so strong middle-order with a few hitters around. And he did his job without much ado. He was dropped in between, but he came back. You throw him somewhere, and if he doesn’t like, he will do anything to come back on his own. With not much Tests in there, he showed in the limited opportunities what he is made of. The most notable achievement was twin-hundreds in a single Test against New Zealand where he first made runs in 1st innings to counter the NZL score, then batted again and scored to save the game from thirty-odd for two. His first and only hundred in a losing cause till date- against Zimbabwe at their den also came in this period where he top-scored in both innings, but wasn’t enough probably. He learned his lesson anyway, and if not win he maintained draws at least in all of his further hundreds.

Lesson 3: Never Say Die

Being dropped from ODIs, labeled misfit, if someone can be as consistent as Dravid, it just means one thing. He doesn’t give up. For one, we certainly know Dravid won’t ever give up, not for anything did Lara say he’ll have either Dravid or Kallis to bat for his life because the same quality extends to his batting which showed in New Zealand and Zimbabwe (though he just fell short). In a marathon, the last lap is always the most difficult. In life, if you were to pick up the winner of the last lap, Rahul Dravid will be the safest bet amongst the cricketing world.

Year 4: April 3 1999 to April 2 2000

The year of the World Cup, anyone else would’ve said he shut his critics but he had acknowledged whatever right the critics had said and didn’t hear the exaggeration (source Rahul Dravid A Biography where a friend tells he heard criticism sportingly). He didn’t shut the critics, he used it as a fuel to run smooth, and the World Cup belonged to his consistency and his brilliance, making him only 2nd cricketer after Mark Waugh to make back to back WC hundreds. He made four-thirty-four runs in all, maximum by any player despite the team failing to reach the knock-outs. Test-wise, he failed to live up to the standards he had set, failing against Australia in Australia and South Africa at home. He joined Kent early summer to improve the shortcomings in his batting rather than staying in for the past laurels and consistency. His coach there was John Wright with whom he had a brilliant association later when he coached Team India. He had even then welcomed Dravid as he finished with Kent’s best average that season.

Lesson 4: Never Ignore Anyone, Even Critics

This probably will set you apart from most, but it’s the toughest to achieve. You have to try and make sense of someone who is speaking ninety-nine percent exaggerations to hear the one percent truth, retrieve it, be patient, accept it, and work on it. Very few in world sports have done it, others call shutting the critics, and he just heard them out and worked his way up.