Dravid in the Probables

Has to be the most surprising recent news for me.

Didn't expect Dravid to feature for us again and so its a great and pleasant surprise.

But it has made me think. Why? Why would BCCI want 'The Wall' back in the team? More appropriately, why would Dhoni want Dravid back in the team? It just defies the recent trends on which the Indian team has been built. The team is completely filled (with the exception of the evergreen Sachin Tendulkar and a couple of others) with exuberant youngsters who more or less have a great attitude towards the game. The team has been extremely successful in the past couple of years and shows no signs of slowing down.

But the recent World Twenty20 and the ODI series with West Indies showcased a huge flaw in the batting lineup. Not one player in the team was able to negate the short pitched balls. Dravid is one of the most technically perfect batsman that you can find in the planet. True, he's on the wrong side of 30, but Cricket is as a much a game of the mind as of the body. If the youngsters continue to have problems with the short pitched balls, Dravid definitely is the man to have in the middle to provide them with courage and to frustrate the bowlers. He has time and again defied some of the best bowlers in the world and can continue to do that. Plus, the recent IPL has shown that he can take the mantle and play strokes when necessary.

Well, I certainly do hope that Dravid is there in the final team and that he gets a chance to bow out of the One Day Internationals on a high. Here's to one of the best batsman of Indian cricket.