Full transcript of sixth annual Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture by Rahul Dravid

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen it is an honour to be delivering the Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture this evening in front of an audience with a deep love and great knowledge of cricketMuch like the late Dilip Sardesai It was because of this deep love and knowledge of the game that he also had a complete fearlessness ndash about protecting the game and when needed calling it like he saw itI have heard a story about how he once stood alongside the sightscreen of the Brabourne Stadium not so far from here during a match and shouted lagori everytime a bowler with a notsogreat action sent down a ball Laghori as everyone will know is the childhood game of seven stones in which throwing is an essential skill environmentIf hes watching cricket from up there these days no doubt he is shouting lagori very often Lets hope the game is listeningFormer India captain Rahul Dravid during the Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture in Mumbai on FridayMy first personal story about Mr Sardesai is an incident from an U19 match at the CCI in 1991 We were playing against New Zealand and one of their batsmen wasnt happy with a decision he had got and showed open dissent at the umpires decision In a manner that would get him heavily fined these days but at that time he walked off after expressing his annoyanceMr Sardesai was watching this and was pretty upset about the Kiwis bad behaviour Well he didnt just let it be He made it a point to walk upto the player and the team manager and express his disappointment at how the young man had behaved That probably sums up the kind of person he was Forthright plain speaking and always a generous man with a genuine concern for betterment of the game and how it was playedIn the few interactions that I have had with him he always had a smile a kind word and some sincere adviceApart from that incident everything I know about Dilip Sardesai is through stories Be it his partnership with Eknath Solkar in the West Indies where they tricked Gary Sobers into bowling the spinner for an extended spell Or once when he was chasing the ball and he kicked it into the boundary because he realized the batsmen were ready to run fiveWhat Ive just talked about a kind word from Mr Sardesai the advice and feedback he gave many a cricketer and the stories I heard about him forms the central inspiration of my talk this evening about Crickets Great Oral TraditionAs youngsters a lot of the advice we were given was not necessarily technical it was more anecdotal Coaches former players seniors would tell us stories about cricketers they had played alongside and cricket matches which they had played in which helped us understand and appreciate the game betterThere is a great parallel with crickets oral tradition and a very Indian tradition of the GuruShishya parampara Our parampara belongs not just to cricket but all walks of life the passing on of stories of legends forms an essential part of our education as children Not too many of us here would have read the Mahabharata but we have been told about Arjunas power of concentration and focus and in turn we have shared the story with our childrenIt was my fathers passion for cricket that made me fall in love with it Apart from taking me to matches my father also told me a lot of stories which made me more curious about this great game that enchanted him In particular he told me about watching Sunil Gavaskar bat and the purity and the correctness of his technique the straightness of his bat At how a 21yearold in his debut Test series in the West Indies had scored 776 runs four centuries three fifties Those were dizzying numbers and remain so a benchmark for every debutant ndash and weve still not matched it again My father introduced me to the wonder and the novelty of what he had experienced as a follower of cricketOver the years discussing cricket with my father brought me great joy He taught me the simple love of the game and I relished sharing this love with him I guess thats where the inspiration started where my career started I heard my father talk about cricket and I wanted to experience these stories First handA little later I found myself extremely fortunate when Mr Keki Tarapore took me under his wing at school I couldnt have asked for a better coach He was more than just a coach he was a mentor in every sense of the word before the concept of mentorship became as popular as it is nowMr Tarapore told me stories about why cricket was called The Gentlemens Game and instilled in me the values that would help me always try to uphold this ethical gold standard Mr Tarapore was very particular about punctuality and my whites being really white and Tshirt always tucked in and shoes clean He felt these were essential trappings of a good young cricketer and that if one focused on these things it was the right kind of beginning The basics had been put in place The rest of his coaching was very much about a players freedom to express himself Other than that all he wanted was for us to grow up as good human beingsAnother story that I remember Keki Sir telling me was about what happened when a 20something young man from my part of the country made his Test debut for India The event apparently created a lot of excitement in the region and people actually made the journey to Kanpur where the Test was going to be held to watch this young batsman represent his country for the first time But then he got out for a duck The people who had made the long journey were shattered They were anxious for their boy Had he blown up his chance of playing for the countryFortunately Gundappa Vishwanath came back strongly in the second innings to score a century The people who had made the journey were relieved A few years down the line I am sure they would have told people about how proud they were to have witnessed the birth of a great batsman and their story would have inspired the youngsters who heard themLike Keki Sachin had Ramakant Achrekar who took him around Mumbai on his scooter to make him play more than one match a day a story which made us a wee bit jealous and a little worried too The astonishing thing is that men like Mr Tarapore and Ramakant Achrekar never expected anything in return They did what they did wholeheartedly because of their love of the game In Bangalore we have Mr Duraiswami who at 80 years is still found at his club nets for the entire session standing walking around and pulling the hair of any bowler who oversteps In Delhi there is Tarak Sinha who has run his club for more than four decades moving it from ground to ground and been coach teacher and guide for generation after generation of cricketers and is still turning up for every weekend practiceThe relationship that young cricketers develop with these mentors is probably as important as the relationship they share with their parents Schoolteachers come and go but your cricket coach or club secretary remains the same for decades and in a different sense they live forever Our relationships with them as cricketers have an influence on how we grow up and what we grow up to becomeUnfortunately the dynamics are changing Club secretaries belong to the age they live in and some can be more commercially motivated When we read about club ownerships changing hands it is astonishing to see the astronomical figures that clubs are valued at these days Previously the more committed older club owner passed on his club to a successor he believed would run it with the same good intentions But today along with cricket academies club cricket has become a business and hence the quality of that relationship we shared with the old guard has certainly diminished It needs to be rekindledThe next part of the Great Oral Tradition that I found myself involved in I owe thanks to the Indian Railways As much of a pain as it was to be seated next to a toilet for 22 hours because my team didnt have reserved seats never mind berths it was train journeys like these that became learning grounds of their own And I took many of them the train cutting across vast tracts of India forming an informal classroom for cricket learnings knowledge and informationThe Karnataka Ranji Trophy team would generally travel in second class and congregate in one of the compartments There were no iPads or Portable play stations no one had a walkman that shut him out from the others Our sources of entertainment were card games dumbcharades and even some singing which believe me no one needs to hear live todayIn between all that fun and humour there were tons of stories It would take us 48 hours to reach Eden Gardens to play a game against Bengal so obviously time wasnt at a premium The Ranji Trophy teams back then usually included a few formercurrent India cricketers I was lucky to play alongside Syed Kirmani and have Vishy as manager They were never shy or short of a word They loved storytelling and talking about their experiences of playing against great players from across the cricket world I admired Vishy growing up and still do and to listen to him talk about Michael Holding or Viv Richards was like being given treats on long journeys At the end I felt enriched repleteIt was everything a young cricketer trying to find his feet in domestic cricket could have asked for In fact until I heard those stories from Vishy I felt that the batsman usually could not see a really quick Michael Holding delivery and played purely on a vague sense of instinct The fact that Vishy could see a ball sent down by Holding made me more confident about taking on domestic bowlersKiri was my captain in my debut season for Karnataka and he noticed that I was this really superstitious boy In his own inimitable style he told me that this superstition stuff is really silly and that I should back myself and stay away from them He said there would be times when I could not control these superstitious tics and which could in the end affect my game I am sure I had heard that before but when it comes from a guy who had won a World Cup you tend to listen and make changes Post that chat I had very few superstitions more like routines actuallyAnother person who I talked a lot with was Roger Binny I lived close to Rogers home so he would drop me back from the KSCA after practice Although there wasnt much traffic back then and wed reach home in 10 minutes I almost always took home a lesson I would also see a young Stuart playing some backyard cricket Many years later I found myself captaining Stuart Binny and while it did make me feel old it did feel good In my many talks with the two Binnys I am certain that on more than one occasion I have just been the link ndash the transmitter of information from Roger to Stuart Roger was a wonderful senior approachable helpful and someone who made a younger player feel comfortable I remember appreciating that and learning from it as an older player I wanted youngsters to be comfortable talking to me about their game A short while ago Stuart and I had a chat about what you needed to do to take your game to a higher level and I told him that he should trust himself and his abilities That when you moved to a higher level you needed to be careful to keep that trust strong and not let yourself down mentally To have faith in the hours and effort you took to get to where you wereAs a cricketer you can learn from your colleagues Like I tried to do with Anil and Srinath They played for India about fourfive years before I did and I always remember waiting for them to return so I could pick their brains hear about their triumphs How does that bowler bowl How did you set him up for the dismissal Yes we watched it on TV but it is something else to listen to the plot from the mastermind himself and see that grin break out over his face as we reach the climax of the storyI have always had great faith and belief in the oral tradition It is something I believed in as my career went along too As much as I loved getting into analytics video analysis and all that sort of modern technology I would still make the effort to talk to as many people as possible to gain firsthand information Sometimes it was from opposition batsmen on how they practice for a particular kind of delivery At other times it was probably talking to a former cricketer on how to be a good slip catcher The kind of information you gain through chats like these is just pricelessI know from personal experience that it really means a lot to young cricketers growing up through the system when the seniors their heroes have time for them and are willing to have a bit of a chat It is a different kind of coaching and one that has a huge influence on the youngsterWhile I do not have any firsthand experience with Mumbai cricket other than being on the other side in Ranji Trophy games I have heard that passing on information played an integral part in making Mumbai the most successful domestic team in the country A prime example of this is the famous Khadoos title associated with Mumbai batsmen The word doesnt even translate correctly ndash what is true khadoos Stubborn Dogged Unyielding Relentless Or something in between that Or all of it togetherJust like you cant translate it you cant teach a kid to be khadoos either You can only inculcate that attitude in him by sharing stories of all the khadoosness of past Mumbai stalwartsFor instance the story of Sunil Gavaskar batting left handed to counter the leftarm spin of Raghuram Bhat and salvaging a draw in the 198182 Ranji Trophy semifinals I remember watching that game as a kid and was amazed at what I sawOn the one hand you had Raghuram Bhat who bowled magically and easily outbowled the younger Ravi Shastri On the other hand you had the genius of Sunil Gavaskar being outrageous and batting lefthanded to one bowler and right handed to the others While there are articles and scorecards from this game a youngster will never get his hands on the genius of that batting until he hears the story from someoneBack in the day before formalized coaching television and internet ndash it was these kind of informal interactions and wordofmouth transfer of knowledge that played a critical part in the development of a cricketing cultureWithout television our best chance of understanding an international cricketer was through stories from people who had watched them play With oral communication the tone of the speakers voice and emotions can be captured quite easily The emotion definitely plays a part in how you receive the information and how you treat it That is something the internet cannot give you These are not coaching manuals Also I find that more and more people are a little worried to write about their experiences or share their observations as they do not want to upset people They are more comfortable with talking and as listeners we usually find that thoughts and words about touchy topics are usually more free flowing than the written word When we hear I believe to some degree we can internaliseTime and attention from senior cricketers and the stories they told us was of immense value to my generation Dilip Sardesai was a senior cricketer who formed part of that continuing legacy He had time for people He never minced words He was always one for a laugh Being noticed by a cricketer of his pedigree was inspirational to youngsters but everyone knows how lightly he wore his achievements and his stature in the game He was always generous of his time his humour and his wisdomHow can we talk cricket at the CCI and not recall the great Raj Singh Dungarpur He was probably the best cricket storyteller I have ever encountered and will always remember listening to him talk about Miller and Trueman and the exploits of Vinoo Mankad with a childlike gleeOne of the other great Mumbai cricket story tellers is among us today IF HE IS IN THE AUDIENCE Vasu Paranjpe I remember reading Ram Guhas story on Vasu Paranjpe talking about Hanif Mohammeds defence that if Hanif Mohammed played a forward defence in Brabourne Stadium its echo could be heard at Churchgate Station Since I first heard those words I thought now that was a forward defence to die for Just shows you the kind of batsman I wasThen there was Hanumant Singh who coached us as juniors in Bangalore in an under17 camp After wed finished our morning practice we would have breakfast and then were meant to retire to our rooms before returning for practice in the afternoon On some days though Hanumant Singh would start talking about cricket at breakfast and forget that he had to return to his guest house to take a break Before we knew it we were onto lunch and another round of practice Not all the under17s I knew at the time listened eagerly but they were far too polite to leaveNow times have changed Forget Ranji Trophy teams even U16 cricketers fly out from one centre to another with some gadget or the other in their hands and music blasting out of those headphones into their ears Theres a lot of information available on the internet and you can find the smallest of incidents posted on Youtube Even more so though there is a place for stories a place for the Oral Tradition of the gameEspecially in a country as diverse as ours where a lot of young cricketers have no access to the internet and where not much is written onto books a lot still needs to be passed on through storiesJust before the England series I spent a week with the Indian team It was not a formal coaching set up and I didnt put down routines for the boys to follow I was just around and available for a chat It was a lovely experience for me and helped me connect with this new generation of Indian cricketers who I am pretty sure will keep the flame burning for Indian cricket Thats another advantage with the IPL it helps cricketers of different generations and cultures connect with each other for six weeks and so becomes a massive hub of knowledgetransferIt is important for my generation and the next to make sure we have the time and find the time and be willing to pass on knowledge and keep this tradition alive It might not directly translate into runs and wickets and victories but it will have an impact on the way these boys play the game make them appreciate the support they receive and make them into good role models and ambassadors of this great game and countryYet it cant be oneway traffic It is critical for the younger cricketers to seek out seniors and ask for their advice But not merely start a conversation being worried about If I dont talk he will think I am disrespectful Whenever a younger cricketer asks an older player How am I batting that makes for a very generic question Its like talking about the weather A specific question means that you really want to know How did you practice for a particular kind of delivery I find it impressive when any younger player comes up with a specific question It is evidence that he is thinking about his game has done his homework and the conversation becomes a meaningful one a mindful oneLooking on at us from above Mr Sardesai Im sure would not want our professional cricketers to turn into and here I use one of his favourite words PopatwadisAs I was finishing writing out this speech I got an email from Shishir Hattangadi in which he told me about meeting Mr Sardesai in hospital on the day he passed away Despite being weak and ill the first question he asked Shishir was did you watch the game and then talked about how I should play the short ball on legstump The debate ended with Mr Sardesai saying that a good Test player neednt worry about the format his technique will see him through Shishir described the situation perfectly to me His pursuit for technical excellence in batsman was still flowing in his blood stream even as he fought destinyIt has reminded me yet again that every Indian cricketer stands where he does in a continuum through history whose narrative has been scripted by the players from the past This narrative contains beliefs approaches and a storehouse of knowledge and forms the basis of our identityEach player has the opportunity to add and progress the narrative along and that is what leaving a legacy is all about In the midst of historical records statistics and winloss records when you go out to bat you are connected to all those who have played for India in the past and you are also connected to those who will one day in the future wear the India capIndian crickets colourful story is still being written and it is up to us to enrich itThank you for your attention