Over the past two months I happened to live
in Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan. Work being for IPL this season I was
excited for many reasons. More so, this being a new venue for me and secondly
the team which is based out of Jaipur is being captained by one of my two idols
in cricket. Yes, the name is that of Rahul Dravid.
He retired not so long ago this year and
what would you expect from a retired legend in IPL? More importantly, what
would be Rahul expecting from himself. He was replacing Shane Warne as the
captain, who had made an impact with the team and was pivotal in Rajasthan
Royals winning the inaugural IPL title in 2008. Expectations and comparisons
were being made, but the Wall was composed as he openly talked about his
expectations for the season. He wanted to win and more importantly he wanted
him and his team to perform well and keep getting better as the season
progressed.
Sawai Mansingh Stadium, the venue for
Rajasthan Royals proved to be a good one with Royals winning their first three
home matches. Ajinkya Rahane had found sublime touch and in the company of
Rahul Dravid gave RR decent starts on a consistent basis.
Personally this piece is more on Dravid. I
have never seen him being more vocal and animated on the field. He wanted to
lead by example and so he did; be it with the bat or on the field, he was
always there. Even when they had a string of defeats he was very clear on
accepting where they went wrong instead of looking for excuses. Such a quality
in a person is indeed admirable and how can you wish such a guy to lose a game?
It was really hard.
Coming from Bangalore I do admit having a
soft corner for the RCB team. On the night when Rahane scored a hundred in
front of a packed Chinnaswamy stadium, i felt I was supporting Dravid, the
local lad than the local team. Trust me, it wasn’t easy but over the past two
years working with the league has helped me overcome this fact. Though I am not
a passionate fan of RCB anymore, I do like them to win the title someday and
this year I had a feeling RR deserved it, more so for Dravid.
The one run loss in Delhi didn’t help the
cause and I feel personally that did affect RR mentally. Something went amiss
though the team displayed strong character, it was evident somewhere it did
affect them. And so after playing 14 matches in the league, it all came down to
the last two matches. One at Hyderabad against Deccan Chargers and the other
against Mumbai Indians at home in Jaipur.
I was looking forward to the match against
the Chargers and in a way thought it would be a walk in the park. Upsets are
common in sports and today what was witnessed is just another example as to why
living in present is the best approach in sports, no matter how much one plans.
Royals lost and so did I for a while. I didn’t want to work on the last match
seeing the sad faces of the RR management team. Play-offs were this close and
yet the defeat today has made it look so far. They don’t deserve to be placed
seventh on the table, but such has been this season that there was very little
margin for any errors.
I am not sure if Rahul will be back next
year. It is entirely upto him as he looks forward to his first real break from
cricket post-retirement. He might have not won the title this year, but surely
he ensured his team would be known as the well behaved team in IPL 5. Few more
days to go and then our paths might not cross the way it has been in the last
few weeks. But the memory shall be there – Of the chats (though very little) we
had, those pleasantries exchanged on a regular basis and just the way he went
about playing cricket on the field; it was different, yet the flavour remained
the same. It was just cooked differently.
The season is over for the RR team and I am
not thinking beyond the 72nd match of IPL. That will be the last
match for RR and they will be just playing for pride, a win to wrap up a missed
opportunity season.
Out of many memories, this one would last
for some time. My niece Meghna is three years of age and over past one year has
taken some interest to cricket. Not bad for a Swiss resident and this time in
Jaipur she finally managed to get herself a cricket bat. A proper GM bat
specially designed for young aged cricketers. Destiny; with few hours left for
her to fly back, I found Dravid quietly eating his dinner as I entered the
restaurant to have my dinner. He was kind enough to sign the bat for the little
girl and that bat wasn’t just any bat after that moment. I am certain my niece
had no idea what had just happened, but she will someday if at all she takes up
cricket more seriously.
I have had some of the best times in Jaipur
this year and fittingly did manage to find some time to know more of the city
and got an opportunity to meet people and have an understanding of how they
perceived this sport. And one among them was Dravid.
Till next time, Rahul....
