Page 263 - IPL1

He was appointed captain of India’s one-day side in 2005 and
soon became Test captain as well. He stood down from the job
following the tour of England in 2007, when he led his team
to victory in the Test series. He has been omitted from India’s
one-day team recently and he was not part of the squad that
won the ICC World Twenty20, either. There is a young band of
Indian batsman and Dravid, the old master, might find his future
restricted to Test cricket. But his status and popularity are such
that he was always going to be nominated as one of the ‘icon’
players for the Indian Premier League.

Bangalore Royal Challengers were delighted to secure his
captaincy for the duration of the tournament at a cost of just

over US $1m and Dravid needed all his legendary calmness
under pressure as his side struggled to adapt to the lightning-
fast pace of the Twenty20 game. Some questioned his ability to
change the tempo of his own batting after he made ducks in his
third and fourth innings, against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai
Super Kings, but – ever the professional – Dravid proved them
wrong with a string of knocks that combined what the purists
might call “proper” batting with improvisation few realised him
capable of.

To score 371 runs in a generally losing cause – almost 150 more
than the next most prolific player in his side – reflected the
character of the man. An innings of 66 against Kings XI Punjab
during another home defeat spoke volumes: among his team-
mates only Virat Kohli reached double-figures. There may even
have been a degree of anger and frustration from this proud
man during his ferocious 36-ball 75 not out against Rajasthan
Royals in Jaipur, but again he received precious little support.
Only Jacques Kallis (20) and Cameron White (10) made it into
double-figures this time in a total of 132 for nine.

Dravid maintained a brave face throughout the tournament
despite the struggles of his highly fancied team and even
managed to smile when it was put to him that the Bangalore
squad may have been more suited to Test cricket than the
Twenty20 format. That, as much as the runs he scored and the
respect he commanded from his team-mates, may have been
his greatest achievement in what was a difficult few weeks for

India’s greatest-ever No. 3.