THE NICE
GUY WHO FINISHED
SECOND
This
title contradicts the title of Devendra Prabhudesai’s book on Rahul Dravid ,
‘The Nice Guy Who Finished First’ . While Dravid has always been the nice guy ,
he has seldom managed to finish first , often overshadowed by his teammates .
This can be tracked back to 1996 , the start of his international career at
Lord’s , where his magnificent debut knock of 95 came second to the century
scored by another debutant , Sourav Ganguly . The latest example for this fact
being Rahul’s last ever competitive game in cricket in which the limelight on
him was stolen by the man who has been an expert in this , Sachin Tendulkar .
Sachin , playing in his final limited overs match , won the match to lift the
Champions League trophy , leaving his former teammate empty-handed . I have no
specific grudge or harsh feelings on Sachin , though I may sound a bit biased
in this article due to my greater admiration for Dravid .
The
build-up to this edition(2013) of the Champions League was dominated by the
fact that this would be the last ever cricketing assignment for Dravid as a
player and the last one for Tendulkar in coloured clothing . It was an irony
that these two who hold the record for being the most successful partnership in
the purest form of the game will be sharing the field for their last time in a
twenty over match . However , cricket fans across India were hoping to catch a
one final glimpse of their icons .
Coming
into the tournament , Dravid was leading a team which was shocked a few months
ago in the IPL , with three of its players getting caught and arrested in the
spot-fixing scandal that broke out . Dravid would have been shattered by this
act of betrayal as he was the one who gave them their chances to perform in the
big stage . He could have easily given up , citing this reason . But
unsurprisingly , the ever tough minded guy decided to lead the Rajasthan Royals
once again and for one final time in this global T20 extravaganza .
Fortunately
enough , the Royals found themselves playing all of their four group stage
matches in their fortress , the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur . Despite
Dravid not being able to replicate the batting form he showed a few months ago
in the IPL , his astute leadership skills combined with significant
contributions from almost everyone in the team saw the Royals keep their 100%
win record at Jaipur in 2013 intact . As a result , the Royals topped their
group and also had the luxury of playing the semifinals in Jaipur too .
Dravid
was just one win away from a fairytale farewell after leading his side to a
comprehensive victory in the semifinals over the former IPL and Champions
League winners , Chennai Super Kings . Rajasthan Royals were to face two separate hurdles before having their
hands on the coveted trophy . The first one being the venue for the finals ,
Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi and not their fancied Sawai Mansingh stadium in
Jaipur . The second was their biggest setback . Rajasthan’s ever reliable match
finisher and their go-to man Brad Hodge was ruled out of the finals due to
injury . But the Royals had much to hope for in the finals , given their young
and talented squad .
Meanwhile
, the other finalists were the Mumbai Indians , who had a scrappy start to
their campaign but peaked at the crucial stage . The Sachin-centric franchise
was hoping to give its icon player a perfect send-off by winning the double .
The
stage was set for the finals . In what was appearing to be a grand farewell for
Rahul Dravid , Sachin Tendulkar and his team crept up and made their way to the
finals from a certain no hope situation by delivering a couple of outstanding
performances and also with the help of a great deal of fortune going their way
. As he had been unintentionally doing so well right throughout his career ,
Sachin somehow once again managed to cast a huge shadow over Dravid even in his
last match . This had jinxed Dravid right throughout his career and he never
complained about that . But no one can actually blame Sachin for this and its
not his fault either .
Eventually
the script went in Tendulkar’s way once again as the Mumbai Indians were
crowned champions . The Royals put up a very good show and competed really hard
but couldn’t match the might of Mumbai Indians and succumbed to defeat .
In many
ways this final summed up Dravid’s career . It is a known fact that Rahul
always puts the team first , ahead of his personal interests . But on this day
he went to the extreme of selflessness . He demoted himself from being an
opener to number 8 in the batting order in his swan song match as his team was
chasing an Everest target . He got out playing an unorthodox slog , which he
would have never dreamt of playing in his entire Test career . He did his best
for the team and still ended up on the losing side .
Finally
, Dravid went to collect the runners-up cheque in the presentation ceremony .
The nice guy once again finished second .
-vj
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