If I was Rahul Dravid I would be overjoyed, and yet not surprised, at my recall to the one-day side. Cricketers of that stature continue playing only because they believe they are good enough, pride is a big part of it all, and the fact that Dravid hadn’t retired from one-day cricket meant he believed he could force his way back in. It requires a wonderful combination of grit, optimism and self-belief and Dravid has each of those in abundance.

When he was left out in 2007, he was still averaging 37.4 for the year, compared to a career average of 39.5, though in all fairness his last 9 innings had only produced 80. It would seem on that basis that the dropping was justified and indeed, Dravid had much on his plate those days. It would be fair then to harbour the belief that two years later, now 36 (and seven months if you want to rub it in!), he might struggle to find his way. Should he then have been picked at all?

He has no recent one-day numbers to go by but with great players you only look for clues. After a fairly lengthy struggle in Test cricket, Dravid now averages 64.2 from the time he got the century against England at Mohali—an innings some thought bought him some time. And in New Zealand he got runs everytime he went out to bat. It was in a relaxed state of mind therefore that he approached the IPL and, at the other end of the playing spectrum, he showed the ball could leave his bat quite sweetly. With players like Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly the only debate can be of form, not of ability and convinced of that the selectors have pressed the button.

... contd.