Sachin Tendulkar has been an inspiration to a whole generation of cricketers. His batting in itself is a coaching manual. This is clearly reflected in his envious cache of batting records.
On Tuesday, at the Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera near here, the Little Genius was seen in a new role. He became a source of inspiration to none other than former India skipper Rahul Dravid.
The 37-year-old Bangalorean, who has been the mainstay of India’s batting over the years, appears to have lost his Midas touch of late. Age could be a factor as Dravid’s reflexes and feet movement are not the same.
With the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Suresh Raina staking their claim for a spot in the Test XI, Dravid did himself no favour with scores like 77, 13, 1, 21* in the four innings against Australia last month.
Dravid is one of the most technically sound batsmen the modern era has seen, but on Tuesday, he did falter at the nets. ‘The Wall’ missed the line of the ball completely on a couple of occasions. Dravid appeared like he was struggling to negotiate the left-arm spin of Pragyan Ojha.
Seemingly upset with his misses, Dravid stood and watched Tendulkar bat. For the record, The maestro was rock-solid as ever.
Ojha, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and even coach Gary Kirsten tried their best, but Tendulkar showed no signs of ageing and played some delightful strokes.
Dravid also observed VVS Laxman. The stylish Hyderabadi looked comfortable as he practised his favourite wristy flicks. The red cherry found Laxman’s willow on quite a few occasions.
The last time Dravid played at Motera, in 2009, he had scored a classy century. After he was done for the day, Dravid walked up to the pitch and inspected it. He also rehearsed a few shots and spent about 20 minutes on the 22-yard strip before boarding the team bus.
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