Technician at work ::: Rahul Dravid

On 22nd of March 2013, I drove  about 175 kms one way to watch probably one of the best technicians the Modern day cricket has seen. No wonder, he shares such a rapport with cricket's most ancient and most committed cricket Club in the world that is the MCC. For 3rd year running, Rahul Dravid participated in the Emirates T20 tournament at Sevens Cricket Ground in Dubai.

Now before proceeding a Warning: This technique has been shown by a professional who has worked everyday for more than 25 years. Although it is recommended that you follow them but then very few can

	It has been more than a year that Rahul retired from the tests, yet one could see him working hard to get him into shape for the match.
	Communication with your partner is the key. Rahul was playing for MCC where players from different background came.
	In Pre T20 days, it was taught that the front foot should be as close to the line of ball as possible. This allows the ball to be met below the eye as can be seen here. However these day people want to swing their arms and hence play away from the body. It is more risky to play away from the body. In India it is still ok, but when batsmen tour overseas in swinging and bouncing conditions, playing away from the body often brings their downfall. Rahul because of his technique averages slightly better (53.03) away from India than his over all average (52.31)
	See how low he gets while flicking the ball. One has to meet the ball as close to the ball as possible
	Now this is a "Leave". Again the front leg will be planted as close to the line of the delivery as possible and the ball if left to go as close to the bad as it is safe. You do not take eye off the ball even while leaving it.
	Backfoot defense on view: See the elbow. See how he has stood tall, playing close to the body. However if one needs to play an attacking shot for the ball which is short, one will be away from the line of the ball.
	A batsman has to be nimble on the feet. When we say footwork has to be good, what is understood is that bats should dance down the pitch. No! Going behind and using the depth is equally effective. In bouncing and fast pitches, many times that is more effective
	Now since the match was a T20 match, this short was played by Rahul. Its opening the face of the bat and running the ball to third man area. This is a bread and butter shot for most Limited over batsmen
	This is what you get from the subcontinent player. This is a skill more than technique. A ball pitching outside the off stump. See how the bottom hand comes into the game. taking the ball from off stump to the On side.
	Now this is one picture I would like to frame. See the stance which is actually the 1st thing which should be correct. Batting in Cricket is Side on and it cannot be 90deg. The Left leg is ever so slightly open. Head still. The back lift not too high. Depending on the ball, he will take it higher, if the ball is to be attacked. Rahul Dravid has played more than 30,000 balls at the test level that is more than more that any other batsman in the history of the game. The relaxed stance he has has been the factor. Also see that unlike Sachin Tendulkar, he is a top handed player.
	In Defense see the ball being met so close to the body. Also one can see Rahul's both feet above the ground. The left elbow is high and hence he is meeting the ball at the top of the bounce with center of his bat. While the drives and the pulls are the more glamourous shots, I will pay my money to see this defensive shot. Picture Perfect !!!!!
	This is a pull being executed. It is pull of the front foot. However, in the next picture you will see the transfer of the weight on the back foot
	Here is the shot being completed on the back foot.
	Yet again, meeting the ball on the top of the bounce, close to the body. Purposely played on the on side to try and pinch a single
	This is a ball bowled wider to Rahul. He still will plant his front foot as close to the balls as possible.
	Now the extension of the arms. The bat is being closed down a bit so that the ball is hit to the ground as much as is possible.
	Preparing for a Pull
	And the Pull being completed
	Nice and relaxed approach to the crease
	Now we saw the stance front on earlier. This is side on. The stance itself is a treat to watch. Nice and simple and relaxed
	A cut shot to a spinner, which Dravid could not keep down and got out

I am sure this is the last time I have seen the technician bat. As I said earlier, the technique served his good for more than 16 years and showed him in good light in Cricket played away from India. 

India has emerging talents in the likes of Virat Kohli, C Pujara, M Vijay, S Dhawan, A Rahane at the test levels. C Pujara is widely acclaimed as the heir to throne vacated Rahul. His "Test"will start with South Africa tour. Till then I will cherish the memories of Rahul Dravid 

WHY I WRITE ON CRICKET

Today I thought  I would reflect on why I write on cricket. After all, I do waffle on quite a bit on it, don't I? I have blogged for almost seven years now: What's the deal with all this verbiage? Why talk so much about a game?

The answers to that question is quite obvious for some, and I won't go into the most straightforward one. (Besides, there's always a new game or a new player to be talked about, and the game itself has changed.) Today, I want to focus on my particular station as a cricket student who grew up in a cricketing country but now lives 'abroad'

Mostly, it might be that I continue to write about cricket because I'm infected by a deep nostalgia, an incurable homesickness, one that I cannot stop hoping will be cured and palliated by conversation with others who love cricket like I do. The homesickness, the 'homeward bound gaze' of the immigrant is a cliché now, but its emotional impact remains the same as it ever was. While, like many others like me, I miss the cool weather of the Sayahadris, light of the north Indian winters, the brilliant sunshine that warmed my non-centrally heated body as I emerged from a cold UP interior, I also miss the sounds and sights of cricket: radio commentary and street games and men in white on cricket fields. Seven years  of absence have attenuated this feeling, as has the non-stop saturation by international cricket, but the desire to talk about cricket has not gone away.

I still feel words spring to my lips as I watch a game; I still find myself possessed by an incurable itch when I witness cricketing folly or excellence, one that can only be assuaged by writing about it. Often, it has not mattered whether someone read my writings or not. I wrote because I had to, because it was the only way to deal with my reactions to cricket. I often wish I could stop writing on cricket: it takes up a lot of my time; I'm a newly minted father now.

The subterranean and subconscious roots of my interest in cricket lie deep in a set of memories and impressions formed so long ago that their eviction seems impossible.

But I can only stop writing on cricket if I stop watching it or thinking about it. The subterranean and subconscious roots of this interest, though, lie deep in a set of memories and impressions formed so long ago that their eviction seems impossible. Those early imprints made sure I would view sports in a particular light, one that ensured that no matter how deeply I grew invested in the Manchester United and Chelsea, no matter how enthusiastically I might look forward to a Hockey game, some part of the emotional frisson associated with cricket will be missing.

Perhaps if I had stayed on in India, I might have grown away from cricket. I might have become busy in the country's newer attractions; perhaps the EPL or Formula One would have gradually replaced cricket in my sporting priorities. But because I moved across, I took with me my sense of cricket as it was then: the subject of endless conversation and rumination and heartbreak and joy. Those sensations find constant provocation in the attention I pay to cricket, and demand expression in the only way I know how. After all, I'm pretty much useless at anything other than Cricket.

Sometimes it seems that to stop writing on cricket would require not being interested in it anymore; sometimes, it seems I continue to write on cricket because to stop writing on cricket would be to acknowledge one part of my life is over, a loss that seems too great to bear. To stop writing on cricket would mean having to finally accept that I can no longer go 'home'. And so I write.