Clash of the titans: Sachin Tendulkar- Rahul Dravid controversy at Multan

An upset and angry Tendulkar asked Rahul Dravid, 'what the thinking was behind declaring' when the Master Blaster was batting at 194.

In March 2004, at Multan against Pakistan, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar added 336 runs for the third wicket. The partnership sealed the fate of the match as India registered their first-ever Test win in Pakistan.

It’s not often a batsman gets a chance to score a triple hundred in his career. And when one does, risk is the last thing he will entertain to attempt at the landmark. But then Sehwag is an exception to everything batting. He launched Saqlain Mushtaq into the stands over mid-wicket for a six, and in doing so became the first and only Indian triple centurion in the history of Indian cricket.

While Sehwag will forever have fond memories of the number six from this game, Tendulkar, till date feels the pinch of the same number; with good reasons. He was stranded on 194 when stand-in skipper Rahul Dravid declared India’s innings. It was only the second day and there was a lot of time left in the Test. After all, a Test double hundred doesn’t come that easy.

Throughout his career, Tendulkar has been known as a team man and has never really expressed disappointments openly. But this was different, Tendulkar made it apparent to the media that he was upset over the issue.

While the amazing run-feast should have been the talking point, the declaration sparked off an unneeded controversy

 

What Tendulkar said then

“I’m a little disappointed, having got so close. I was aware that the declaration was just around the corner, but when it came, I was taken by surprise. The plan was to put them in for an hour or so. We were playing very positively at the time … a run-rate of four-an-over is very good in Test cricket. But when Yuvraj got out, I saw Rahul [Dravid] calling us in.”

Individual vs Team

With Tendulkar clearly stating his disappointment, the murmurs were heard loud now. The fans concluded putting in their own logic. Some believed that a jealous Dravid was the villain, while some hailed his bravado and blamed Tendulkar for putting his personal desires ahead of the team’s cause. There was another rumour that the declaration was prompted by tour captain Sourav Ganguly, who was not playing the Test due to an injury, but still calling the shots from the dressing room.

Worried coach and captain

John Wright, who was the coach then, admitted that the drama created by Dravid’s abrupt declaration did result in some tense moments. In his book John Wright’s Indian Summers, the New Zealander mentioned of spending a sleepless night, whereas Ganguly was worried that the issue would go on to divide the Indian team. Wright blamed no one for the situation, but believed Dravid should have declared much earlier and the situation could have been avoided if the coach could have convinced the stand-in captain to do so.

Wright wrote: “I should have convinced Dravid to declare earlier and he should have grasped that it’s one thing to declare when a batsman’s 170 or 180, quite another when he’s 194. And Tendulkar should have pushed to get there quicker.”

Ganguly, Dravid speak up

After the Test series, in an interview with a magazine, Ganguly admitted that the declaration was a mistake but he avoided getting into a blame-game mess.

“We made a mistake in this matter [Multan declaration, but we need to look ahead now. Indian cricket is moving forward and let us stay focussed in that direction than looking back and creating needless problems,” said Ganguly in the interview.

While Dravid didn’t call his decision a mistake, he nevertheless made it clear that had he known that the match would finish off in four days, he wouldn’t have declared. Dravid also played down the incident.

“Retrospect is a beautiful thing. If I had known that the Test would finish in four days, I would not have declared then. Both Sachin and I have a sore throat now clarifying (this issue). It has been made a bigger issue than it is. At least it is not an issue in the team. We have sorted it out. We respect each other too much to let it linger on,” said Dravid.

Tendulkar reveals it all

All agreed, but as Dravid said the issue wasn’t that ‘big’, well it was certainly big enough to find five pages of mention in Tendulkar’s autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’.

Releasing after more than 10 and half years of the incident, Tendulkar’s book threw light on it, as he made it clear that what exactly transpired and how he felt about it.

Excerpts from the book:

Time of declaration – Tendulkar writes that as per the original plan discussed during the break, India were looking to give Pakistan 15 overs to bat in the second day, but then thing changed.

“…when I was on 194, he [Ramesh Powar] came out again and said that I should try and get to my double hundred in that over itself because Rahul had decided to declare. I was startled, to say the least, because in my mind I still had 12 balls in which to score the remaining six runs before 15 overs were left for the day.

“Then [After Yuvraj Singh’s dismissal], just as Parthiv Patel, the next batsman, started to come out, I saw Rahul [Dravid] gesturing us to go back to the pavilion. He had declared the innings with me stranded on 194 and with 16 overs still left for the day, one more than we had agreed on tea. I was shocked, as it did not make any sense. It was day two of the Test match and not day four, as it had been in Sydney a month earlier.

“Disappointed and upset, I made my way back to the dressing room and could sense that the whole team was surprised at the decision. Some of my team-mates perhaps expected me to throw my gear about in the dressing room in disgust and a create scene.”

Wright and Ganguly –“…John [Wright] walked up to me and apologised. He was sorry about what had happened and said that he had not been party to the decision. I was surprised and said to him that as coach he was one of the decision-makers and there was no reason for him to be sorry if he believed in what had been done.”

“Sourav [Ganguly] came up to me and said he was very sorry at what had happened and that it wasn’t his decision to declare. This was a little surprising because Sourav, as a skipper, was part of th tea time discussion and was also present in the dressing room at the time of the declaration.”

To the press – “…I was asked by the press if I was disappointed by the declaration and I had no reason to shy away from the truth.”

Face-to-face with Dravid – “…I informed him [Rahul Dravid] that I was indeed upset and there was no way I would pretend otherwise. I asked him what the thinking was behind declaring at the time that he did.

“Rahul said that the call was taken with the interests of the team in mind. It was important to demonstrate to the Pakistanis that we meant business and were keen to win. I wasn’t convinced. First, I said to him that I was batting for the team as well. Yes, I had scored 194, but the 194 was meant to help the team and it was my individual contribution to the team’s cause. So to say that decision was taken in the best interests of the team wasn’t altogether correct.”

Dravid’s double standards – “I reminded him of what had happened in Sydney less than a month earlier, when we had both been batting on the fourth evening and Sourav had sent out two or three messages asking when we should declare and Rahul had carried on batting. The two situations were comparable and, if anything, the Sydney declaration was far more significant and may have cost us a Test match and series victory. If Rahul was so keen to show intent here in Multan, he should have done the same in Sydney.”

All’s well in the end – “Despite this incident, I am glad to say Rahul and I remain good friends, and even on the field our camaraderie remained intact until the end of our careers. We continued to have some good partnerships and neither our cricket nor our friendship was affected.”

India lost the next Test in Lahore, but came back strongly in Rawalpindi to win their first ever Test series in Pakistan. This controversy did overshadow India’s win at Multan for a while, but the Test is still remembered more for Sehwag’s heroics, for which he was informally conferred with the title of ‘Multan ka Sultan’ .

 

(Suvajit Mustafi consumes cricket for lunch, fiction for dinner and munches numerous other snacks throughout the day. Yes, a jack of several trades, all Suvajit dreamt of was being India’s World Cup winning skipper but ended up being a sports writer, author, screenwriter, director, copywriter, graphic designer, sports marketer, strategist, entrepreneur,  philosopher and traveller. Donning so many hats, it’s cricket which gives him the ultimate high and where he find solace. He can be followed at @RibsGully and rivu7)

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