Rahul’s technique and success

I admire Rahul Dravid. But wait, who does not? There are enthusiasts who say Tendulkar was a far better player than Dravid was. I chose to vehemently disagree to this. In this post, I will try to dissect the technique and temperament of the Indian cricket team's stalwarts, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar

Dravid. He was nicknamed the Wall by the cricketing fraternity for quite obvious reasons. His stats are testament to this name. He has faced a whopping 31,258 balls in Tests alone. In comparison, Sachin had faced around 23,000 and Kallis around 26,000. You might argue that Dravid played a good 30 innings higher than Tendulkar but again, where was Tendulkar when India needed an anchor at one end to stay afloat? Dravid performed this role time and again, and with immense technique and concentration. His technique can be highlighted by a particular stroke that everyone around the world plays. The cover drive. We have seen players employing this shot on the up or along the ground to a full length ball in the line of fourth or the fifth stump. Success of this shot highly depends on the batsman's footwork. I will consider the case of only right handers to explain my analysis more clearly. The left leg of the right hander has to slightly move towards the ball. Static legs will ensure that the ball is nicked behind, either to the keeper or to any of the slips depending on the amount of swing on offer. Most accomplished cricketers have been lured into playing this shot and have ended up nicking it to the slips. Accurate assessment of the lateral movement of the ball in different playing conditions and by different bowlers is a highly difficult task. Considering Dravid, he plays this particular shot in a queer way. During the shot's initiation, he bent his right leg so much so that it was almost flat on the ground. The left leg moved towards the region where he wished to place the ball. Leaning into the drive and caressing it through the gap effectively replaces the need for power with the need for timing. With the right timing, he ensured that his chances of edging one through to the keeper is highly minimal. His technique when defending a ball is also highly admirable. To the short ball, he quickly judged its length, gets higher and keeps it down. Such minor attributes of his game, honed over long practice sessions and many matches in domestic cricket, stood him in good stead during his tours around the world.

Pertaining to Tendulkar, none can ignore the records he stacked up over the course of his two-decade career. So huge a quantity of runs cannot come by unless you have a sound technique. Having said that, one facet that always felt quite off about Tendulkar's batting was his apparent vulnerability. His play had an air of getting out to one good ball that would be inevitably bowled. Throughout his innings, he always played shots that gave bowlers the glimmer of hope that he will perish sooner or later. Though, To Tendulkar's credit, it was mostly the latter. Sachin did not instil in bowlers the sense of throwing to a wall. He always had an attacking instinct, thus eliminating the tiredness factor and the disinterest factor creeping into their minds. In terms of psychology cricket on-field, Tendulkar was weak. Test matches are mostly won by attrition, rather than sudden bursts of brilliance. Tendulkar somehow had ignored this facet of his domain, and hence, courted a comparatively low success rate in Test cricket, when viewed on the plane of public perception.

I haven't considered stats in the above analysis of Tendulkar's and Dravid's technique. Summing up, though each player was supremely talented in their own right and worked smart, Rahul always retains an edge over Sachin, in terms of technique and mind play on the field.