I know how you feel....
Rahul Dravid walks out although it was theoretically a "not-out". I know exactly how it feels. You are outdone, outplayed and outclassed so much that you dont want to embarass yourself by looking like a cry-baby. You are down so much that you don't want even want to check if it was fully taken. Rather you did not care, because you already accepted psychological defeat. 30 balls from Mendis and 8 runs but Rahul Dravid has been dismissed thrice.
Perhaps it is a mind thing. But my advice to Indian cricketers is this, why do you not want to make sure that you are actually 110% sure before you move out? I have seen this defeatist sort of attitude of Dravid/Sehwag/Sourav starting to walk even without looking at whether the catch in the slip was completed or whether someone actually grounded the catch. It so upsets their ego that they have edged something and they deserve to go back.
"To Deserve", doesn't mean one dirty thing. I can imagine what my favourite cricketer Ricky Ponting would have done in this case. He may have been going through a rough patch. He might have been dismissed 5 times in less than 50 balls from Murali. But still, every time he edges every time he walks out of the crease, he will be 150% certain that it was infact "out". No moral dismissals, no ego-hurts, if there is one small inch of a crevice that you can scrape through, scrape through it. Because, it is legally not-out.
I may not like Ricky for his batting skills. I sure like him for his attitude towards opponents. He was criticized by reporters during India's defeat that he rallied his men like a pack of hunting dogs. But that hurt us because we were at the receiving end. I absolutely do not think he was anywhere against the letters of the law or the spirit of the game in that "defamed" test against India. Coming to our present case, to Dravid and all other batsmen with ego, if you happen to edge, see if the catch is completed, see if it was a no-ball, see if there was some small element of doubt (3 Referrals per innings is good enough), see if any one rule of the game was missed.
PS: I remember some discussion between Slater and Gavaskar as to how Slater always looked immediately at the runner even if he edged and the ball went behind him, because he was optimistic that there would be a chance of a run if the ball was put down. Only after he sees that the runner is not signalling, he looks back to see if the catch was not complete. (Am trying to locate that video in youtube)
Rahul Dravid walks out although it was theoretically a "not-out". I know exactly how it feels. You are outdone, outplayed and outclassed so much that you dont want to embarass yourself by looking like a cry-baby. You are down so much that you don't want even want to check if it was fully taken. Rather you did not care, because you already accepted psychological defeat. 30 balls from Mendis and 8 runs but Rahul Dravid has been dismissed thrice.
Perhaps it is a mind thing. But my advice to Indian cricketers is this, why do you not want to make sure that you are actually 110% sure before you move out? I have seen this defeatist sort of attitude of Dravid/Sehwag/Sourav starting to walk even without looking at whether the catch in the slip was completed or whether someone actually grounded the catch. It so upsets their ego that they have edged something and they deserve to go back.
"To Deserve", doesn't mean one dirty thing. I can imagine what my favourite cricketer Ricky Ponting would have done in this case. He may have been going through a rough patch. He might have been dismissed 5 times in less than 50 balls from Murali. But still, every time he edges every time he walks out of the crease, he will be 150% certain that it was infact "out". No moral dismissals, no ego-hurts, if there is one small inch of a crevice that you can scrape through, scrape through it. Because, it is legally not-out.
I may not like Ricky for his batting skills. I sure like him for his attitude towards opponents. He was criticized by reporters during India's defeat that he rallied his men like a pack of hunting dogs. But that hurt us because we were at the receiving end. I absolutely do not think he was anywhere against the letters of the law or the spirit of the game in that "defamed" test against India. Coming to our present case, to Dravid and all other batsmen with ego, if you happen to edge, see if the catch is completed, see if it was a no-ball, see if there was some small element of doubt (3 Referrals per innings is good enough), see if any one rule of the game was missed.
PS: I remember some discussion between Slater and Gavaskar as to how Slater always looked immediately at the runner even if he edged and the ball went behind him, because he was optimistic that there would be a chance of a run if the ball was put down. Only after he sees that the runner is not signalling, he looks back to see if the catch was not complete. (Am trying to locate that video in youtube)
