What is this obsession about doing/watching something the first time? The first time you walked, the first time you rode a bicycle, the first time you went out with your girl friend...etc. As we are going into unsafe 'grounds' I will restrict myself to watching someone for the first time. That experience might be as sweet as the aroma of your mom's cooking(watching Steffi Graf) or as powerful as being hit on the head with a baseball bat(Bruce Lee). Mike Tyson, Diego Maradona, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Schumacher, Martina Hingis, Curtly Ambrose, Brian Lara, Carl Lewis, Michael Jordan, Saurav Ganguly, Monica Seles, Zinidane Zidane....,the list is long and I can remember with crystal clarity the first time I saw these legends in action. But this post isn't about the first time I saw them. This is about someone who also has every right to stand alongside these greats in terms of achievements and in the way he has conducted himself in being a true sportsperson.
It was the Titan Cup 1997, and I had missed most of the earlier matches, partly due to some abysmal performances by India, and partly due to personal commitments. So, it was with a sense of trepidation I sat down to watch the match between India and Australia in a virtual semi-final as the winner would face South Africa in the final. India is put into bat, Tendulkar goes into his then familiar rampage of the bowling early on, all is well in the world, Sidhu gets out early, and for some inexplicable reason Srinath comes in as a "pinch hitter" and gets out without any fuss. Azhar comes to steady the ship, but with Mark Waugh bowling, somehow memories of Mumbai 96 come creeping in, and he does get Tendulkar out, 95/3.
At that time 95/3 with Tendulkar gone is like 100/7 with just the tail to follow. Jadeja was our talisman in the end overs, so knowing he would'nt come I was eagerly awaiting to see Robin Singh, the first Tamil Nadu player to be playing after Srikkanth after 8 or 9 years of his debut, with my father sitting besides me praising his virtues as a 'hard hitter', only to find a guy neatly dressed, bat in hand, walking very assured, looking at ease, with his collar up a la West Indian style, coming in marking his guard, looking around, and settle down in one of the most classical and compact stances I have ever seen to face his first ball. Those were the days of watching the Indian innings with the TV on mute, so it wasn't until the screen flashed his name, that I came to know I was watching Rahul Dravid. My first reaction was 'Oh my God, this match is down the drain, Azhar is looking good, Jadeja is the only other batsman to come, and for all my father's approval of Robin Singh, I still haven't seen him bat..Oh ****, Oh ****..' and as I was thinking this Dravid flicked the first ball to square leg to take a single in that manner we have become so accustomed over the years, waiting in backfoot for the ball to turn towards him and gently glance it away towards the leg umpire. Only one word was in my mind after that about him, "SOLID".
And he was on that day, playing second fiddle to Azharuddin in a partnership of a hundred odd, and scoring a fifty(flicking the ball through mid wicket for a boundary, another shot we would become accustomed to) in a match India would win by 5 runs. After all these years, I still remember that flick to square leg and how it gave me another legend to root for. Thanks for the memories Rahul!!!!
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