Why Rahul Dravid stepped down?

[Prudent]

He may have told the BCCI chief Sharad Pawar that he wants to concentrate on his batting. But only those unaware of the dirty politics rampant in Indian cricket since time immemorial, will take Dravid at his word.It is not difficult to see Dravid is not telling the truth for obvious reasons. Being a thorough gentleman, Dravid would probably never disclose the actual reasons for his abrupt decision, considering he had just led his team to a Test series win on English soil after 21 years. A key member of Team India told rediff.com on condition of anonymity that Dravid was "feeling suffocated", not because of the weight of captaincy affecting his batting, but because "certain people from outside tended to dictate to him as to what he should do and what he shouldn't" as a captain."You could clearly see Dravid had been feeling some sort of indirect, mental pressure from the always powerful Mumbai lobby, which has again swung into action since Pawar has become the BCCI president," he added. What lends further credence to the theory that the Mumbai lobby had been secretly working against Dravid is Sachin Tendulkar's comments on the England tour itself that he hadn't "enjoyed" his previous innings as the Indian captain. Tendulkar was reported to have made such remarks on Sky TV's serial Indian Pioneers in the middle of the Test series.And within hours of Dravid tendering his resignation from the captaincy the BCCI has sounded out Tendulkar to take over the reins of Team India. A man of quiet dignity, Dravid has always played the game and steered clear of controversies. He could withstand even a sustained attack from the media and former cricketers-turned-critics for having not enforced the follow-on on England in the third and final Test at The Oval and squandering a golden opportunity of winning the series 2-0; but certainly not the skilful political manoeuvrings the BCCI bossess are masters at.Dravid has proved his leadership ability in his own humble way despite the limited resources at his command and the outside pressure he was invariably subjected to. However, a person of his temperament can neither stand all this nor continue any longer in such a scenario, especially when he has realised that captaincy has begun to affect his batting. With the tough series coming up against the world champion Australia, first in India and later Down Under, Dravid has taken a wise decision to relinquish the captaincy on a winning note. His batting is far too important to Team India than his captaincy. http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2007/sep/16haresh.htm

[varun]

"A key member on the condition of anonymity" "certain people from outside" :haha: Looks like a gossip-monger wrote that piece.

[sandtest]

As a Captain RDs tactics and some decisions started backfiring in recent times and this was another pure class from him that he rightly stepped down before it could have got any worse. That said, there is no doubt that BCCI is surrounded by Powar's coteries, who are hell bent in radical regionalization of Indian Cricket management and so far they have been successful. From top to bottom "groupism" is visible, it should not take a rumor monger to sense this reality. nepotism/ favoritism with regional biase, "he is a favorable interest in future", "give and take" kind of of attitude is definately not an ideal condition for any board to bring out genuine talents for highly competitive games of todays. Last thing I want to hear is Sachu being appointed as a Captain. It will be unbearable for us to see Sachu loosing his form again which he regained recently.

[zubinpepsi]

What lends further credence to the theory that the Mumbai lobby had been secretly working against Dravid is Sachin Tendulkar's comments on the England tour itself that he hadn't "enjoyed" his previous innings as the Indian captain..

whats the link between Mubai lobby working against Dravid and Sachin's comments?? doesnt make any sense...

[Chandan]

The whole article doesn't make sense. If he was preparing for the tougher challenges ahead (he had asked the selectors to get Akash Chopra ready for the Australia series), he obviously was not feeling "suffocated" enough to give the captaincy all of a sudden? So if he was okay in England, what suffocated him enough to relinquish the job in India when he was not playing? If the burden was so much, why did he not offer to give up just the ODI captaincy?

[Chandan]

Leading edge Tendulkar is the favourite to take over from Dravid but Ganguly’s credentials can not be ignored The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created— created first in the mind and will, and then in reality. The resignation of Rahul Dravid gives the Indian selectors to chart out India cricketing future and the choice of the man who will lead India is going to be the first step in that direction. On the face of it, India has two real and viable options — Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, each having their own pros and cons. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is currently leading the side in South Africa, is a third option but his inexperience goes against him. For many, however, the question shouldn’t even be asked. The reasoning there is simple. Ganguly has been India's most successful captain, handled the ‘pressures of captaincy’ on and off the field and got the best out of his men. Tendulkar, on the other hand, captained India in 25 tests and won only four, had ‘reluctantly accepted’ captaincy in his second stint and as captain while his performances remained steady, his team struggled. But that is only half the story. Good support When Ganguly came into the job, he had a new coach John Wright to fall back on. The New Zealander brought professionalism and added a trainer, Adrian Le Roux to the mix. The result was that India finally started working out strategies for the opposition, using computer aids and getting fit. In short, they started moving with the times. The Indian team that went on tour to Australia in 2003-04 had batsmen with experience in those conditions, a coach who was familiar with the Aussie mentality and a bowling attack that was ready to learn. But all this wouldn’t have mattered had Ganguly not managed to stamp his authority on the job early on. He did that by defeating the Aussies in a test series of epic proportions and that made him the best choice as skipper. It also helped matters that he got the players he wanted — he fought for and got Harbhajan Singh into the squad. The off-spinner responded with 32 wickets and his performance virtually clinched the series for India. Cut to Tendulkar. When the master batsman came into the job in 1996, he was just 23 years and 109 days old. His genius, notwithstanding, he would have needed sometime to get comfortable. Instead, he had a series against Australia to make his debut against skipper. India won the series 1-0. It was followed by a series against South Africa. Certainly no easy competition. In 25 tests with Tendulkar as captain, India faced Australia in four tests, South Africa in eight, West Indies in five, Sri Lanka in five and New Zealand in three. Note the absolute lack of teams like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. In terms of coaches, Tendulkar had to contend with the likes of Madan Lal and Kapil Dev, who would go around asking players to play with heart, but offer little in terms on advice. Kapil was a great cricketer but as coach, he was an abject failure. The trainer was a dream in both his stints as captain. Tendulkar also had to contend with a hostile selection committee too. There are few who can forget his ‘Noel who’ response to the news that off-spinner Noel David was being sent to West Indies to reinforce the squad. Tendulkar had incidentally asked the selection committee for a medium-pacer. Not clear cut So the choice to elect India's next skipper isn’t as clear cut as it seems. Tendulkar would no doubt like to succeed at the one thing that has escaped his grasp. But sources in the BCCI inform us that at the moment, he only wants the job for test cricket, which makes the two-captain theory a possibility. Ganguly wants the job too. But there’s a question mark over his one-day career, an issue that will surely crop up in the selection meeting is that Ganguly, as a cricketer alone, struggles in ODIs — his movement in the field seems restricted and his running between wickets isn’t very impressive either. At the end of the day, however, leadership is all about making those around you better and there are few in India who have been better at that than Ganguly in the recent past. The essence of leadership is said to be vision but right now, it’s the selectors who need to look into the crystal ball. ------------------------------------------------ If Tendulkar is not willing to accept the captaincy of both tests and ODIs, why not have split captaincy and persuade Dravid to stay as test captain where he is going great guns?? BCCI must act sensibly here. Please!!!

[sandtest]

Tendulkar is the favourite to take over from Dravid

Lets hope SRT doesn't accept the captaincy. It would be a disaster, he has only recently found form and doesnt need this captaincy mess in his final years of cricket.

[Guest dada_rocks]

Nobody wans such a thin-skinned person to lead India anyway.. ........Criticism happens, deal with it, it's so simple..

[yoda]

Nobody wans such a thin-skinned person to lead India anyway.. ........Criticism happens' date=' deal with it, it's so simple..[/quote'] It is not criticism he is talking about. He is talking about pressure put on by some folks in the BCCI to make him change the way he wants to do things. I hope even with your myopic anti-dravid eyes you can see the difference.

[Bangla_Tiger]

IMO the only reason Dravid resigned was upcoming tough series.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[jf1gp_1]

IMO the only reason Dravid resigned was upcoming tough series.

Bangla tiger first win a test against a top side dont give me that we almost won nonsense WIN and then comment about an Indian captain who just won a test series in England.

[sandtest]

IMO the only reason Dravid resigned was upcoming tough series.

Bismillah birader....you have great reason....I agree our "brother in faith" - Ashrafool is only greatest thing ever happened in captaincy, it's evil cricinfo and media who have ignored him.....bhelcome to forum by the way.

[King Tendulkar]

IMO the only reason Dravid resigned was upcoming tough series.

troll alert

[King Tendulkar]

He has come out and said he resigned cos he was not enjoying it. Why was he not enjoying it? Was it just the pressure of the job, I doubt this. There is some more sinister reason. Player disputes, slectors intefernece or board interference. There must be a reason why the great Dravid was not happy being skipper anymore!

[Guest dada_rocks]

It is not criticism he is talking about. He is talking about pressure put on by some folks in the BCCI to make him change the way he wants to do things. I hope even with your myopic anti-dravid eyes you can see the difference.

Ignore them, noone can make him change his decision on the field. If they wanted they caud have gone ahead and sacked him and that way onus wud have been on them. But this business of resigning because someone is trying to twist ur hands behind the scene is not ON.....Shows one in poor light.

[Chandan]

Wish Rahul could tell us about the reason why he stepped down like this. BCCI's unprofessional way of working has to be one of the reasons, but that'll be stating the obvious. Why did he resign when apparantly he was preparing was the togher challenges ahead? Please Rahul, at least stay for the tests.

[vroomfondel]

Speculation aside, I believe that this was a sudden decision. He is too responsible and professional to leave India under Sachin's captaincy with such important tours coming up. The evidence mounts below: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1121683&pageid=2' " Meanwhile Dravid’s sudden decision to quit the captaincy still has the cricket Indian cricket establishment baffled. “In fact,’’ a BCCI source said, “he was in touch with the selectors from England and had even proposed that Akash Chopra should be readied for the tour of Australia at the end of the year.’’ Chopra, it might be remembered, had shown stout defence and true grit on India’s successful tour Down Under in 2003. Dravid was obviously planning ahead, till he took the precipitate decision." ---------- Chopra comes in and scores a double century against SA-A (and puts these gambhir/uthappa wannabes in the cistern where they belong, but that's another thread). Good for him. Sucks for India.

[fineleg]

Bismillah birader....you have great reason....I agree our "brother in faith" - Ashrafool is only greatest thing ever happened in captaincy' date=' it's evil cricinfo and media who have ignored him.....bhelcome to forum by the way.[/quote'] Ashrafool and Habifool :haha:

[zubinpepsi]

There is a shelf life to captaincy in India: Dravid PTI BANGALORE, September 17: Breaking his silence over his surprise resignation as India's cricket captain, Rahul Dravid said on Tuesday that he was not enjoying the job after two years because "there is a shelf life to captaincy in India". The 34-year-old batsman, who has not said a word in public since his resignation was announced by the BCCI on Friday, said that captaincy "takes a lot out of you". The thought of stepping down had crossed his mind after India's early exit from the World Cup in the West Indies for which he felt responsible, Dravid said, adding, "but I still felt that I had the strength and energy to do it then" in the hope that things could be turned around. However, towards the end of the ODI series against England which ended this month, he had begun considering resigning. "But I did not want to take any decision there without first speaking to my family and wanted to give it a few days back home to see if I felt differently before taking a final call", he said. The decision was "personal and based on my observation of whether I would be able to give it my very best like I have always tried to", Dravid said. The former Indian skipper was of the view that "there is a shelf life to captaincy in India in which you can give it your best". "May be the shelf life are becoming shorter as time goes by", he commented. Dravid, who characteristically chose his words with great caution, refused to comment on the issue of his successor when asked if Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, whose names were being mentioned, would be able to handle the job. "I obviously will not like to comment on it and it is a decision best left to the selectors", he said a day ahead of the meeting of the Selection Committee in Mumbai to choose his successor. Following are the excerpts from the interview: Is it true that the feeling of quitting from the captain's job started with the World Cup debacle? No. But definitely after the World Cup I felt responsible for our early exit and I had also said so then and the thought did cross my mind. But I still felt that I had the strength and energy to do it then and though the World Cup was disappointing we were not that bad a team and things could be turned around. The suddenness of your resignation has surprised everyone. When did you first think in terms of resigning? Towards the end of the England ODI Series I began to consider it. But I didn't want to take any decision there without first speaking to my family and wanted to give it a few days back home to see if I felt differently before taking a final call. This was the reason I couldn't tell even the players because it was a decision I did not want to take lightly or without being sure. What prompted you to take the decision? I had done the job for two years and they have been pretty eventful couple of years. Obviously it takes a lot out of you and I felt that I was not enjoying it. The decision was personal and based on my observation of whether I would be able to give it my very best like I have always tried to. Finally, you have to be comfortable yourself that you will be giving it your best and not going through the motions which will not be fair to the team. You have been a committed player and a fighter who would do anything for the team. Observers are surprised that you should throw in the towel just before the tough series against Australia and Pakistan, leading the Indian team without a leader. Your comments. Every series is tough in international cricket and we are playing constantly all the time. So it's not as if there is any break or period. There is no real right time for decision like this except for the fact that you must truly enjoy the job and be committed to it and know that you can give it your all. There is a shelf life to the captaincy in India in which you can give it your best. Maybe the shelf lives are becoming shorter as time goes by. What has been the most frustrating and joyous moments of your captaincy? I haven't had much time to sit down and analyse the last two years and I think it will take a while being away from it to give me a better perspective of things. On the top of my head in terms of results obviously the World Cup was a disappointment as was the last Test match at Cape Town; while Test victories in the West Indies and England and the really good one-day run we had last year were the highlights. Who do you think should succeed you? The names being mentioned are Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Do you think they can handle the job? I obviously will not like to comment on it and it’s a decision best left to the selectors. Was the pressure of captaincy really affecting your batting? Do you think the media have been unfair to you? Like when I was a player I had some good series and some bad ones. And it was the same when I was the captain. No I don’t think the media has been unfair to me personally but in today's times with the explosion in the media there is a lot more pressure on players, captains, selectors, everyone. So I never felt it was personal. --------------- Chandan, seems like Dravid will never tell the true reasons..... always being politicaly correct..:giggle: