Monday, Oct 07, 2013
Dubai: It’s almost ironical that two of the most enduring legends of the game faced off in their last competitive game in the slam-bang Twenty20 format, but then it was perhaps symptomatic of the changing landscape of cricket. For Sachin Tendulkar, the Champions League Twenty20 final was the last act in any format of limited overs game while Rahul Dravid is now done with the game as a player.
The sense of occasion was not lost on the crowd at the Feroze Shah Kotla in New Delhi on Sunday evening, reducing the final to almost a subplot. Mumbai Indians made it a memorable double by adding the title to the IPL VI they won earlier this year, but the hip hop version of the game must consider itself lucky to be able to hype it up as the last hurrah of the two masters.
The 40-year-old Dravid had retired from international cricket early last year while Tendulkar, who retired from One-Day Internationals last December, is in the twilight of his Test career. And together, they have scored an astounding 92,000 runs in all formats of the game.
“It’s funny that we have played against each other more in coloured clothing,” Dravid tried to put things in perspective — for the two had never played in the same IPL side together. While Tendulkar remained the quintessential Mumbai man since the first edition of IPL in 2008, Dravid moved on from a none-too-happy icon player for his city team Royal Challengers Bangalore to the inspirational captain of Rajasthan Royals for the last three seasons.
Incidentally, it was Dravid who had convinced the other three members of the then Fab Four: Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman to not consider themselves for the national Twenty20 team being picked up for its first-ever World Cup in 2007. Then the captain, he reasoned with the other senior pros that it’s a format better left for the youngsters, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) assembled a rag tag team under Mahendra Singh Dhoni to be sent to South Africa. The rest — as they say — is history.
While Tendulkar had no inhibitions in adapting to the shortest format when the IPL started, ‘The Wall’ took his own time to settle down to it’s demands. Named the captain of Bangalore in the first season, Dravid often looked ill-at-ease and rumours have it that his relationship with the franchise owner Vijay Mallya was also a frosty one. It was only after he switched to Royals after the first three seasons and took over the role of captain and mentor, Dravid came to his own — enjoying his batting and revelling in the task of guiding the team.
“Even though Tendulkar is of my age or two months younger to me, he is seven years senior to me as an international cricketer. When I came into the Indian team, in my third Test, Tendulkar was India captain. He was someone you would look up to as a young cricketer growing up. You saw this young kid do amazing things across the world. It was a sort of inspiration for all of us playing first class cricket,” Dravid told the media on the eve of the final.
Tendulkar was no less effusive in Dravid’s praise: “He [Dravid] is a master technician. Any day in my team, he will be number three, because there were so many innings in which he batted brilliantly. When the rest of the guys found it difficult, he was comfortable. He loved challenges and I knew we could bank on Rahul at the times of difficulty.
By Gautam ?Bhattacharyya Sports Editor
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