Published: Aug 25, 2015, 03:43 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 27, 2015, 12:18 PM (IST)
In what comes as a shocking revelation, many Indian cricket fans who worship Rahul Dravid are heavily disappointed, shocked and at loss of words with the progress that his disciple Ajinkya Rahane has made so far in Test cricket. The diehard and rock-ribbed fans of Dravid, the man currently involved in nurturing and development of the cricketers with India A, have voiced opinions in strangest of manners. For the uninitiated, Rahane has been making giant strides in international cricket, and has emerged nothing less than a ‘Wall’ for Indian cricket fans.
The fans obviously do not want to be named. For they have a huge presence on cricket forums, especially on Facebook. They have confided to this reporter in person that they are totally shocked with how Rahane has turned up in the past couple of months. ALSO READ: Ajinkya Rahane: The quintessential team man
Rahane has shown tremendous qualities as an all-round cricketer. He recently batted at No. 3 and scored a century to help India win the second Test against Sri Lanka and level the series. In the first Test of the three-match affair, he created the world record of taking most catches (8) in a Test.
Rahane has captained India in recent past on the tour of Zimbabwe. He made a strong comeback to the Indian Test team at No. 6 in testing conditions in South Africa, scoring 47 and 15 against a marauding South African bowling attack at New Wanderers. But it was Rahane’s superlative 51 and 96 at Kingsmead that helped him emerge as one of the strongest batsmen in the Indian camp. ALSO READ: India tour of Zimbabwe 2015: Will the Ajinkya Rahane gamble work?
This was not all; Rahane scored a match-winning hundred at Lord’s in 2014 that helped his side to win a Test at the ‘home of cricket’ after 28 long years. He scored 103 on that occasion. Before that tour Rahane had made another hundred — 118 batting at No. 7 to help India secure a draw at Wellington against New Zealand.
Rahane continued to make all the right moves when he scored two half-centuries and a century in Australia in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15. He scored 399 at an astounding average of 57. He was also involved in a crucial 262-run stand for the fourth wicket with Virat Kohli that helped India earn a draw at Melbourne.
A fan told this reporter on condition of keeping his identity in secret, “Dude, I am shocked! I mean, how can you not like this guy? Is he another Dravid? I fear he is! He is giving strong competition to my idol Dravid, who was simply amazing with everything that he did in cricket. He [Dravid] captained, opened the innings, kept wickets, remained an excellent fielder in slips, and was such a cool cricketer on the field! Tell me what is it that Rahane not doing in Indian cricket team (barring wicketkeeping)?”
Another fan, who manages what seems to be a fake profile (an animal as his profile photo) on a famous cricket group on Facebook, said he is not able to accept the fact that someone is rapidly emerging as strong as Dravid. This fan can be spotted in almost all discussions, sometimes leaving cricket journalists searching for place to hide their faces with his profound observations.
He said in condition of anonymity, “Look, the world might be going gaga over the Kohlis and the Rohits, but Rahane is the real deal for many of us. He is as calm as Dravid, similarly composed, has a watertight technique, and doesn’t get involved in the hoo-has that keep happening off the field.”
He continued, “A lot of us thought that not only India, but no cricket team would see a man as strong like Dravid emerging from anywhere, especially with young kids running after T20s and the money that it gets to them. But out of nowhere, here is a man, not only excellent at what he does, but rapidly turning us into diehard fans.”
“I used to fear for the young cricket fans from India, especially those who have not seen Dravid and Test cricket a lot. But here is one guy who is making all the right moves. I am sure Dravid’s presence and guidance at Rajasthan Royals has rubbed off on him,” he concluded.
These two men may have spoken sense, but there are others who do not remember much about the past and prefer to live in the present. These fans, whom this reporter does not want to give importance by quoting them, say they are disappointed that someone else is fast replacing Dravid’s place in their hearts.
It was nice to see Rahane getting rich praise from Indian cricket fans, but this reporter was taken aback by the short memories that many of them possess.
PS: The author admits he was inspired by a Facebook post for this, after seeing that he developed it into a complete story.
Please note this is a humour article — a work of pure fiction
(Golu Sharma is among the millions of lardy Indians who wanted to become international cricketers, but their bulkiness came in the way. He’s now freelancing as a cricket journalist, but doesn’t like to be addressed as ‘citizen journalist’. Golu also dreams of flying a Sukhoi MKI 30 so loud and fast that it proves to the aircraft’s Russian makers that it’s their lousy technology behind the crashes)
