Good bye Rahul, says Dilip Tirkey

Uthra Ganesan

In 1995, a lanky young man, stick in hand, made his first foray on the international scene. A year later, another youngster, wielding the willow, did the same.

In a national sport and a national obsession, Dilip Tirkey and Rahul Dravid have had uncannily similar career graphs — to the extent of earning the same sobriquet, ‘The Wall’. While the former has retired from active play and graduated to becoming a national selector, the latter is on the verge of calling time on a career that, till six months back, was the ideal how-to-guide on a long haul in professional sport.

Tirkey, who has had only two brief interactions with Dravid in his 15-year-long career, and Dravid: two men who let their deeds on field speak for them, without courting controversy. “It’s easy to pull down a player when he’s not doing well, but scores – whether in cricket or hockey – are subjective. The problem is that for a player like Dravid, the bench has been set so high that anything below that seems a failure, even though it may still be miles ahead of anyone else,” Tirkey says.

He may well have been talking about himself. For almost 12 years, Dilip hardly missed a match due to injury or poor fitness; for 15 years now, Dravid has never been accused of taking it easy on the fitness front.

All his life, Tirkey remained the go-to man of Indian hockey, entrusted with the job of staying behind and guarding the defence even as others went on to score goals and become stars. For all his life, Dravid has been the silent worker, the vital cog in the Indian cricket wheel that held the team from collapsing even as others, brash and belligerent, bypassed him to instant stardom. Till he played, Dilip used to be the first to turn up for training and last to leave the field, sweat dripping all over. Even now, Dravid happens to be the first to turn up for nets and continues shadow batting long after others have quit. All his life, Dilip had to struggle with the larger-than-life persona of Dhanraj Pillay for recognition, and never cribbed; all his life Dravid has remained in the shadow of Sachin Tendulkar, and never repented his role.

Dilip’s meetings with Dravid were nothing dramatic – once in 1998, when both were yet to graduate to the league of extraordinary gentlemen in their respective arenas, and the other in 2000, when both had begun to show how special their gifts with the stick – and the bat – were. “We were training at the Chinnaswamy Stadium (in 2000) and Dravid had come for practice. We just met briefly, exchanged pleasantries and wished each other luck. What was most remarkable was that he had already become huge but, at heart, he was still just a sportsperson. There was none of the attitude one expects from cricketers in India; he knew us all, appreciated our performances and went about his practice like anyone else, toiling for a few hours when he could have taken it easy,” remembers Tirkey.

The veteran defender also thinks that those who criticise legends for one poor show need to remember that every great sportsperson becomes so because of his achievements over years. “I personally feel that a great player’s form dips only because of two reasons – injury or mental pressure. In my case, it was my ankle injury. In Dravid’s case, I don’t know but as an international sportsperson I think it would be the pressure to perform, specially since everyone else around him is failing as well. Having been the sole survivor of several clashes – most recently in England – the pressure on him to repeat that task would be immense, something everyone should understand.”

Most important is seeking a replacement. Dilip retired when his injuries became repetitive, but even before that there were calls to replace him with “talented youngsters” who can do the job as well, if not better. Since he called time, however, Indian hockey is still struggling to find an ideal replacement among those talented youngsters, despite having tested close to a dozen players in various combinations. Even now, coach Michael Nobbs says defence is India’s biggest concern – ironic, considering it was the backbone of Indian hockey till Dilip was active.

Similar is the case with Dravid. While pointing fingers at his age, critics forget the other numbers – his matches, runs, catches. And the fact that even his shrillest critics haven’t been able to convincingly name one player who has earned his spot. That Virat Kohli scored a ton in the very last Test innings on this series was an indication, at best, of the talent he may possess – not a sign of the commitment and long hours that must necessarily go into becoming The Wall.

Dravid and Tirkey. Two men who epitomise Indian sports, legends in their own right. When one demands respect for the achievements of the other, it makes sense to listen.