A Road Less Travelled; A Wall Less Breached

Sports as a discipline has this uncanny ability of producing greats and role models for two reasons. One, because there are sporting greats who raise the bar of success and set examples both on and off the sporting arena.
Second, because these heroics are often witnessed "live" by the admirers from the comfort of their houses, through the television. It is the second reason that is pretty much exclusive to sports and hence most people have their first role models as sporting greats. And yet, even in sports, the rift between a hero and a role model is pretty wide. A hero transforms into a role model when an admirer wishes "I want to emulate him/her", not because of the latter's success but by the virtue of being able to identify with the hero's strugles and achievements and a general admiration for the hero's demeanour.

Rahul Dravid in action: Bliss....

The admirer that I speak of in the above lines is me and my sporting hero and role model is Rahul Dravid. 

To begin with, I did not see his first innings. There was no "Cable TV" in our house then. I had the first glimpse of him during the innings of 148 in Johannesberg. I remember the pull shots he played even to this date. Body rising with the ball, weight shifting on the backfoot, eyes locked on the ball, the bat with the WILLS sticker meeting the ball right at the sweet spot and the wrists rolling over to keep the ball all along the ground for a delicious four. Ah what bliss, almost meditative. Nevertheless, I want to focus on why he is different in his own way and why he is a role model to me.

Soon after Dravid's debut, everyone recognized the mettle of his technical prowess with the bat. There was copy-book perfection in every shot he played- whether it was the pull, the cut, the cover drive or my favourite, the on drive through mid wicket. But as it happens with such technically adept individuals in all disciplines, the mind almost gets programmed to try perfection at every attempt. In this instance, Dravid's response to a ball of a particular line and length became predictable. Opposing captains plugged the gaps in the field and the run machine was choked. He was ousted from the ond-day squad. And then came to the fore what makes him so great, his flexibility to change. He altered his technique, ever so slightly, wriggled out of the chains of his "perfect" technique and became a prolific run scorer in one-days as well. Many a cricketers have fallen to being a slave of their perfect techniques but Dravid was different. Why cricketers alone, but how many of us can change something about ourselves for the larger good? Hence, I call it a Road less travelled...

I also love the fact that Dravid exceled in multiple aspects of the game, and that too by being conventional rather than flamboyant. He did not invent any shot of his own say a DilScoop or a helicopter shot but he became a batting great just by doing perfecting every conventional shot in cricket. He also rose to great heights in the fielding aspect of the game. Remember his catch of Moin Khan in Australia? Conventional technique, great execution, superb rewards.

Also, living in a culture where we make and break heroes at the speed of light, he taught us how important consistency is over flashes of brilliance. When you watched him come out to bat, meticulously padded up with inner gloves even while batting, when you saw him struggle his own self and some great bowlers and how he came on top of it all, it made me believe that one could do great things by being conventionally exceptional too.

I love how he remains gracious in victory and in defeat. How success never got into his head, when I feel like showing off to everyone even if I remotely accomplish something small. Hence, it came as no surprise that he reserved the finest words in his farewell speech to the "Indian Cricket Fan".

He made me believe that people could rise to greatness from extremely normal backgrounds as well.  

I will always remember that face under the helmet, with lips folded inwards as the ball hit the bat just indicating how perfectly he wants to hit the ball and how much he relishes doing so. 

And at the end of it all, all he said was "I never stopped trying". And I would have emulated my role model and would have won life if I too ever reach a position to be able to repeat those words.

Thanks Rahul!