Hard hitting article on Dravid and Tendulkar fanboys

[Cricket Tragic]

Ouch :popcorn:

Watching the circus around Rahul Dravid's retirement today has confirmed what I've always felt - people tend to go overboard with praise, often forgetting the facts, once a person is retired (or dead). I dread to think what will happen when the overdue retirement of Tendulkar takes place. Tendulkar fanboys (closely followed by Dravidtards) can't accept their hero being number 2 in anything. Tell them that Tendulkar is the second best bowler of all time and they'll debate it. Even reasonable and constructive criticism is not allowed. Dravidtards spend their life trying to prove that he is better than Tendulkar. Their world started in 2002 and ended in 2006. Only that period counts. A man who was deemed to be useless a month back as his stumps took a pounding in virtually every innings is now being talked about like he's the second coming of Jesus. Is it not possible to celebrate a career but also offer a balanced view? If you knew nothing about the game and tuned in today, you'd think that Dravid was a player who never failed and the greatest human being that ever lived. Who cares about a player's personality anyway? Being a nice guy does not bump your average up. The fact is that Rahul Dravid has been useless to the Indian team since the SA tour in 2006/07. He has failed in Aus twice, England once, SL twice and SA twice. He failed against the bigger teams at home as well. Before last summer in the WI, he hadn't made a hundred outside India since 2006 in the WI. His stats were beefed up by scoring plenty of cheap runs against NZ, WI and SL in India where every man and his dog made runs. A good summer in England was an exception and clearly wiped out his struggle from the minds of the average and often ignorant Indian fan.Between the end of 2006 and the start of 2011, Dravid averaged only 28 against Pak, Aus, SA and England. If you include the away record in SL, it looks like a record of a tailender. The guy was a good player but he should have retired long back. Talks about him being able to play on or that the timing was perfect (from business partner Bhogle) are a joke. He has got a long run based on his reputation much like everyone in Indian cricket has from Tendulkar to Sehwag. Dravid is no exception. As a player, it helps to have the media on your side. Not many cricketers (or sportsmen) have been smart enough to realise this. They are the people who mould public opinion and the majority of people believe what they read and hear. Dravid has done this better than most. Coming back to the stuff that matters. No one would argue that Australia and SA have been the best attacks in Dravid's era. His record in SA is downright pathetic less than 30 spread over 21 matches with just 1 hundred. SA have had a terrific attack on every tour unlike Australia. Dravid's average in Australia (41) is decent but not great. It however hides the truth. He averaged only 15 when they had their best attack with McGrath and Warne in 1999/2000. On the following tour, when Australia had an inexperienced pop-gun attack with the likes of Bracken, Brad William and Andy Bichel, he proceeded to smash over 600 runs in the series. Now again in 2007/08, Australia had a good attack with Lee at his peak, Clark being talked of as a Mcgrath replacement with his terrific record and Johnson showing form that we later saw in SA. Dravid failed again with an average of 33, which included some painful innings like the ones in Melbourne. Very similar to his crawl at the Oval in 2007 or the one in Bangalore in 2001. How did Dravid do so well in England and fail in Australia? The fact is that the Aussies sorted Dravid out long back. After the tour in 2003/04 infact. They bowled a different line in 2004 in India along with a packed leg side field and choked him. Dravid hasn't made a hundred against Australia since 2003. England bowled too wide at him and then into the pads. Clearly the maths chap from Cambridge wasn't doing his homework. Since the start of the 2004 home series against Australia, Dravid has averaged 25 at a s/r of 34 against Australia. Now to the country of the highest wicket taker in the world SL. Dravid struggled against Warne and he struggled against Murali as well. His test record in SL avg of 33- is proof of that. Dravid's record vs Pakistan is another case of facts being hidden. When they had Wasim, Waqar and Saqlain at his peak in 1999/2000, Dravid struggled. He didn't make a hundred across the 3 tests (2 test series + ATC) and averaged 27. Following their retirements, he plundered runs on some of the flattest wickets you will ever come across. In fact, the boredom associated with India-Pak matches between 2004-07 was largely due to the roads they were played on. Dravid cashed in. In 2006 for example, he made hundred in both the drawn games at Lahore and Faislabad (where even Afridi scored runs and India made 400/1 or something ridiculous) but failed in the test where the ball did something, scoring 3 and 2 in Karachi. The double in 2004 was a decent effort but again was on a road against a mediocre attack (with Akhtar walking off the field) much like Tendulkar's double in Sydney. Good but nothing outstanding. Scoring runs against Fazal-e-Akbar, Sami and Imran Farhat cannot be called a great achievement. That India won the match it totally irrelevant. The bowling attack was of club standard. So a man who was terrible against the two greatest spinners as well as the two best teams is an ATG? The fact is that Dravid bashed plenty of cheap runs vs bottom ranked teams like WI and NZ that bumps his average masssively. The only good team that he has an excellent away record against is England. He had a blip in 2007 but he has been sublime otherwise, starting from the 95 at Lord's to the 146 at the Oval. A man who has struggled against pretty much every great bowlers from Murali to Akram to Dale Steyn cannot be an all-time great batsman. In a world 11, you're talking of people who can dominate attacks in the middle order and not a plodder who can't get the ball off the square when up against a great bowler. Has Dravid ever played a dominating test knock? Outside of openers, how many greats have been defensive players? None. For all the talk about being the man in tough situations, Dravid 4th innings record is mediocre. He has never made a hundred in the 4th innings in a match where there has been a result. His highest being the 75 at Kandy. One other knock of note is the one at Adelaide but not even 1 big 4th innings score in a result-oriented game in 16 years. If you exclude his gimme hundred in NZ when NZ were happy with a draw and a series win and bowled McMillan and Roger Twose ahead of Doull and Cairns, his average is in the late 30s. He hasn't made a 50+ 4th innings score since 2006 and this is when India have had most of their best run chases like Delhi 2007, Chennai 2008, Bangalore 2010, Mohali 2010, Colombo 2010 etc. What was Dravid't contribution in these great wins? Nothing. He hasn't been a major factor in successful 4th innings run chases. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;innings_number=4;orderby=batting_average;qualmin1=10;qualval1=innings;result=1;template=results;type=batting Plenty is made out of the man that Dravid is. Frankly, I couldn't care less about it but let't look at it since it receives so much praise. He spoke at the Bradman oration about meaningless ODIs but didn't utter a word against what many people perceive to be the bane of Indian cricket T20 cricket and the IPL. Why? It was a great chance to make a statement, much like Sangakkara did when he spoke at Lord's last summer against his board and politics, but clearly losing the IPL money was too much to risk. Here is a man who retired from ODIs and now tests, but continues to play what he himself described as a "tamasha"? This is after being insulted and later sent packing from the Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team. If it wasn't for a bid from the Royals, Dravid would have gone unsold since no one else wanted him. So Dravid loves his cash like the rest of us. Why make him out to be a Gandhi then? Another incident that gets attention is the Multan declaration. While I have no problem with a batsman (I don't care if it happens to be Tendulkar or Chris Martin) being left a few runs short because of a declaration, I do have a problem with people believing that Dravid would have done the same if he was batting. Harsha Bhogle, who it must be remembered is Dravid's business partner, couldn't stop gushing about it on a television programme this evening. Would Dravid have declared if he was batting? Not a chance. He is a man who batted on as Karnataka captain just to get his double hundred vs UP in the 2009/2010 Ranji semi-final. UP batted only 7 overs at the *** end of the day and lost 2 wickets. That could have been an hour or more of bowling if Dravid had not gone after his double hundred. Why didn't he declare on 180 or 190? Do you think that a man who is concerned about a FC double hundred would declare short of a test hundred or double? Stop kidding yourself. http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/251/251044.html Dravid the ODI batsman was a choker in the true sense. Anyone remember his famous choke against Dharmasena and Jayasuriya? It was the worst end over batting I've ever seen. This is after his comeback from the embarrassing performances in 1998 when he couldn't even score against Bangladesh and had a strike rate of 50 odd. His record chasing is terrible avg of 35 at a s/r of 68 and it's no surprise that India's major wins have come after Dhoni showed him the door. Dravid in the WC quarters vs Aus or final vs SL of the 2011 WC would have choked. After his exit, India have won series in SL, NZ, Aus and the World Cup, besides building an incredible home record. India's record in finals with Dravid won 3, lost 17. Without Dravid won 10, lost 8. I hear that Dravid is underrated. He isn't. If anything, his achievements are overstated. http://tracerbullet.blog.com/

[NareshK]

Looks like a Dravid bashing article more than anything else. Anybody can pick stats and say a player has not been at his best for a time period. Why does that reduce his stature as a great batsman ? Also this particular article is very long. Didnt read the whole thing.

[Andrew Peter]

Very well written article. No doubt that Dravid has made the most of weak bowling lineups. His averages in SA , SL , 1999 Tour of Australia , Series against Pakistan with Two Ws ( where Sach got the 136 ) and recent Sa tour in 2011 is testimony to it Always has been a strokeless wonder in the Odis and its surprising that such a Tuk Tuk player went on to play over 300 odis .

[Prakat]

dravidtards? :hmmm:

[saneindian]

Is it not possible to celebrate a career but also offer a balanced view? So says the writer and then indulges in taking some cheap shots at Dravid's career himself! Hypocrisy, pedantic, double standards....

[Mandrake]

Very well written article. No doubt that Dravid has made the most of weak bowling lineups. His averages in SA , SL , 1999 Tour of Australia , Series against Pakistan with Two Ws ( where Sach got the 136 ) and recent Sa tour in 2011 is testimony to it Always has been a strokeless wonder in the Odis and its surprising that such a Tuk Tuk player went on to play over 300 odis .

Sure..and what has stopped the other supposedly 'better' batsmen to take advantage of the weaker bowling attacks?

[master22]

tracerbullet.blog.com :cantstop: looks like the author and op could not take dravid being given the limelight atleast for a week.Any batsman can be made to look like a hack posting only his negative aspects.Then cricketers like mcgrath,warne,sachin etc who said dravid is an atg must be idiots just because the author from a random blog does not think so:giggle:

[mhr123]

abb yeh kia naya Chewtiyaa panti hai ..

[CSK Fan]

Rubbish Site Rubbish Author. Starts off giving the impression that he is criticizing both Dravid and Sachin fanboys but then totally ignores bhakts and goes after "Dtards". I'm guessing this guy is a closet Bhakt and like a true bakht cannot stand that someone else is in his god's limelight. Enough of Dravid/Sachin already. THey WERE greats but belong in a retirement home now.

A nation that does not respect its past great or take pride in them cannot grow. Look at how Americans take pride in their past leaders. Look at how Aussies defend Bradman to death. Have you heard them speak ill of one past Aussie player? But some Indian fans are so immature that they cannot take victory and defeats as being part of the game. So they need targets to get their anger out. Like a crying child might even hit out at his parents for not getting a toy Its a million time better to be a blind fan of someone than hating on a player for whatever reason. One is a positive reinforcing emotion, the other is a negative destructive one. Respect for people who have achieved something for the nation shows how one was brought up I guess. I dont think the players are things to be used and thrown away Is Sachin past his retirement age? Yes. Does he and Dravid and Laxman still command our respect? Still yes

[CSK Fan]

And your point is? Where did I disrespect/hate these players or act in a immature way? Its called humor and banter Einstein. I think its too subtle for you to notice. Maybe I should have added some smiley faces so that you get the joke. Aussies will defend their players to death but they will also bag them if they stay way past their prime. When they do retire at the end though they will cheer for them. Some of them called Steve Waugh selfish when he woudnt retire. But they didnt deny him a farewell. Enjoy the joke and take it easy.

Based on your past posts, thats not the case

[mastana]

http://tracerbullet.blog.com/

Looks like a Ravi Shastri fan.

[ganeshran]

Looks like a Ravi Shastri fan.

The author flashed and flashed hard :haha:

[ganeshran]

The author is being way too critical and the article is intentionally written to evoke a reaction. Like every other batsman with a long career, Dravid too had his lean patches and countries against whom he didnt score a lot.

[Marut]

Is it not possible to celebrate a career but also offer a balanced view? Yes, first you follow that. Having said that, I would certainly not have Dravid in my test World XI.

[diga]

Is it not possible to celebrate a career but also offer a balanced view? Yes, first you follow that. Having said that, I would certainly not have Dravid in my test World XI.

yeah.. there is a certain contender called the Don Bradman for the position RD plays. But you know what, he will certainly be part of most peoples 2nd X1 or 3rd X1 Whatever the article says may be true. But we are celebrating Dravid the personality, not necessarily the batsman. A batsman who strove to fight the odds and fight for the teams success

[The Outsider]

Can't expect anything better from Tendulkar fan boys. Woke up and saw that Tendulkar got his hundredth hundred on cricinfo - went to youtube to see if someone was benevolent enough to share it, saw the video and felt so much appreciation for the guy and the hard work he put in to achieve this. And the great man was so modest about it, merely taking off his helmet and raising the bat, like it is an everyday job for him. For someone so great it might be, but for someone like me it's a great job to put bat to ball! But how does it relate to Dravid and his ability to perform better than Tendulkar in certain circumstances is beyond me, which is what the OP and article seems to be about - can someone elaborate please?

[kabira]

Never understood why one has to downplay one greats contribution to big up another great. Remember cricket was always a team game and always will be. Both Dravid and Tendulkar have scored most runs together at the crease. Why there is number1 batsman and number 2 batsman. Tendulkar and Dravid never compete for the spot. One was number 3 batsman and one is number 4..So both are must in XI.

[Sachinism]

Looks like a Ravi Shastri fan.

If that is @tracerbullet007 then its mocking Ravi