| Scores | Upcoming | Results |
Bangalore: He has been out of the Indian One-day team for a while. But after some fine knocks in the last Indian Premier League in South Africa,
Rahul Dravid is back in the ODI scheme of things after the selectors named him among the 30 probables for the Champions Trophy, beginning September 22 in South Africa.
Now, sources here say that the batting maestro is also likely to be in the Indian ODI team which will travel to Sri Lanka for a tri-series in the beginning of September.
When TOI spoke to a selector, he hedged, saying, "it’s too early to say anything on the issue. Right now, we don’t even know when the squad will be picked. Generally, it happens 10 days before the team leaves. And, the board is yet to inform us whether the squad for both Lanka and CT will be picked in one go or not," he said.
Almost two years ago, when Dravid was dropped from the One-day team, the selectors had said that they were looking for a young team and needed time to groom them and that it was a unanimous decision. But now, it is learnt that the decision to drop Dravid was not a unanimous one and that two out of the five selectors wanted him to continue as a One-day player.
Unfortunately for Dravid, that didn’t happen. Despite scoring a decent 223 runs in the seven-match series in England at an average of 37.16, he was shown the door after failing in the home series against Australia. Now, he is back in favour for his prolific batting and his sound technique against pace bowling, especially short-pitched deliveries.
Former players and experts are more than happy that Dravid may again play for India in ODIs. "It’ll be great to have Dravid back in the side. He is a selfless cricketer who promoted the youngsters well during his tenure as a captain. Most important, the young cricketers will have someone again to look up to in the dressing room," former skipper Bishan Singh Bedi said from London.
With Virender Sehwag’s fitness still in doubt, Dravid can be more than useful for the team as one of the senior pros who is adept at tackling tough situations. Besides, his record speaks for itself - he is the only batsman in the Indian team after Sachin Tendulkar to have more than 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs.
Another former Indian captain, GR Viswanath said, "I will be very happy for Dravid if he makes a comeback into the One-day side. The selectors must be convinced that they need someone at the top of the order with experience. For that, Dravid is the right choice."
But former opener Chetan Chauhan has a different take on Dravid’s comeback. "It was a mistake on the part of the selectors to drop him from the team two year ago and now the selectors are moving backwards by picking Dravid. If the current Indian team lacks the ability to face short balls, then there is a coach who should sort out these things."
"The selectors need to have long-term goals and start thinking about building a strong squad for the upcoming World Cup in 2011 in the sub-continent. I am sure Sehwag will be fit very soon and the rest of the squad will again fire after two month’s break from the game. I also think Dravid will be under tremendous pressure to perform if he stages an ODI comeback at this point of his career," Chauhan felt.
