Saturday, November 08, 2008

Dravid on Laxman's special 100

What is intriguing about this article? The fact that it was written in the midst of a crucial test match which could see a change of supremacy in world Test cricket. And that it was written on a day when the writer had scored a duck in continuation of a disappointing string of scores. And hence also that it was written with some uneasy questions surely arising somewhere in the back of the writer's mind.

You need some kind of calm to even agree to write in these circumstances, let alone author in this unaffected article just to join your colleague-friend on his day of deserved glory. But you need that calm anyway to script such tide-turning innings as Dravid has in the past. Sadly those epic essays are not appearing these days. Here's hoping that they come once again, sooner than even his followers suspect.

Going by their individual approaches, Sourav has the potential to be a very good analyst and commentator, while Rahul may just turn out to be a thoughtful columnist.

Since we are already into discussing the future when the two 1996 Lord's debutantes have moved on from cricket, the thoroughly missed Siddhartha Vaidyanathan has shared his thoughts and emotions on the single biggest cause of distress to more than a generation of cricket lovers in India.

Here's an oldie - a Rahul tribute to Kumble in cricinfo magazine. It was written during better times on the professional front for both the subject and the author.

2 comments:

Jagadish said...

Angshuman

Considered the remote possibility that one of two things could have happened:

1. Ghost-written?

2. Written and canned well before the test, to be released with relevant updates (put in by a sub-editor) after the 100th test started?

angshu said...

Thought of the latter one, Jagadish. That is a possibility. But I would not think the first one is possible. I mean someone from the news agency will polish it up anyway (as these are not professional writers) but I do not think Rahul will approve ghost writing