Dravid proves age not a factor in T20

CHENNAI: So long as it came off Rahul Dravid’s blade, the crowd kept cheering him, ev­en if that meant impeding the hosts’ prospects. Dravid de­emed an uneasy choice in this form

Rahul Dravid en route to making 66 | D Sampathkumar

CHENNAI:  So long as it came off Rahul Dravid’s blade, the crowd kept cheering him, ev­en if that meant impeding the hosts’ prospects. Dravid de­emed an uneasy choice in this format, blended aggress­ion with innovation and caution with craft to compile 66 off 51 balls, the cornerstone of Rajasthan Royals’ tally. Partnering Shane Watson, a more natural pick for this format, Dravid’s assigned ro­le was primarily a sheet anchor’s, though the yardstick of one is skewed in T20.

But Dravid not just justified his niche in the team but exceeded himself, reiterating that he is not too old for this brand of cricket.

You don’t expect the blasé from Dravid. Nor the blunt. Not that he isn’t capable, but so refined is his batting, as so the perception, that he unde­rstands he doesn’t necessari­ly resort to the expansive. But bowling short to him is­n’t clever.

Though not the most impulsive puller off the ball, he demonstrates a certain fines­se and authority when he af­fects the pull or the cut.

Like the first of his ten bo­undaries on Wednesday. Do­ug Bollinger was only a tad short, but Dravid without ev­en shifting the weight to the backfoot pulled him through mid-wicket. Albie Morkel, not the quickest, gave him am­ple time and width to rock back on the backfoot and ti­me the cut through covers. Un­like, most other players he prefers to cut in front of point or through covers than backward point.

The sluggishness of the strip meant that the spinners didn’t necessarily bowl short for Dravid to wield the horiz­o­ntal bat. He cut Suraj Rand­iv through cover before setting himself on the backfoot to thud R Ashwin. But there wasn’t as compelling a shot in the entire contest as his in­side out boundary over co­v­er off left-arm spinner Sh­adab Jakati. In between, he reverse swept Randiv and fl­at-batted Ashwin, even as he kept ticking away with sing­les before a fatigued hoick curtained the knock.

The former Indian skipp­er, though, believes that he has always been at ease with T20. “I was always in peace with the format. Just that this ca­me to us at a later sta­ge. Any kid who is 20-21 sho­u­ld recognize that T20 is a significant part of his life wh­ether he likes it not,” he op­i­ned. And so long as he gets his runs, it wouldn’t matter wh­ere he is playing or for who he is playing for. The spectators would feel raptu­red.