Dravid gets aggressive on field

Source: NDTV    Date: January 22, 2006

Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid are on the same wavelength on most of the issues but tactics on the field doesn't seem to be one of them.

"I have never been surer of the tactics to use in these conditions and that has to be patience," claimed Chappell as India took the field against Pakistan in the second Test.

Dravid, however, has suddenly become extremely fond of aggression and it is also reflected in the field placements he gives to his bowlers.

Dravid continued to have two slip fielders whenever he lobbed the ball to any of his three medium-pacers and rarely gave protection in the deep to his spinners.

Consequently, 232 of the 379 runs scored by Pakistan on the first day came from boundaries 52 fours and four sixes.

Dravid justified his aggression by stating that he thought India was in the game when Pakistan were reduced to 216 for four on the first afternoon.

"We had their first four wickets by the afternoon and thought it was time to attack. We were holding on well till the final hour," he said.

India conceded 64 runs from eight overs possible with the second new ball with Afridi scooping 42 off 24.

Facing Shoaib

Dravid also had a mid-pitch eyeball confrontation with Shoaib Akhtar in the first Test in Lahore but said it wasn't the first time he had been aggressive on the field.

"I don't do it for effect. I remember even in South Africa I had a similar face off against Allan Donald. There is no reason to believe that I have changed since becoming captain," said Dravid.

Much as Dravid would like to deny it, there is little doubt that the affable Bangalorean is starting to make more aggressive postures on and off the field.

Even on the second day with Pakistan nearing 500 runs, Dravid opted to hem in Inzamam with seven fielders on the offside, all of them inside the ring!

However, Chappell feels the best tactics in these conditions is for the team to put pressure on the opposition rather than outright aggression.

"You need to put pressure on the opposition. You can't get wickets in large lumps here."

Openers' slot

Dravid and Chappell similarly differed on the choice of openers in the first Test and the former overruled it in what he thought was a move in the interest of the team by opting to walk out with Sehwag at the start of innings.

There was another issue of using five bowlers in the second Test where Dravid thought it was only a possibility, only to be confirmed by Greg Chappell a little later that India indeed would be going with an extra bowler in the game.

To be fair to them though, all of these differences of opinions are generally intended to improve the performance of the team on the field even if Chappell and Dravid have chosen to take different routes for it.

It though is good news for Indian cricket that Dravid is increasingly proving to be his own man and all that impression of Greg Chappell controlling the team by remote control doesn't really seem to hold water. (PTI)