Is Dravid really out of form?

After tired of reading all this exaggerated media stories and equally emotional bloggers and readers commenting on various sites with respect to the so called ‘seniors’ and FabFour of the Indian cricket team, I started doubting what is wrong with one of my favorite players, Rahul Dravid and why people are so interested to put a dangling axe on his neck (position in Indian Test team).

Before readers make a quick assumption that this is an attempt by a blind follower to glorify his player’s achievement although the truth is that there are none; I am not a self-proclaimed fan of any cricketer or sports star or a movie star (I was never involved in any heated arguments to justify a third person I never know in person), but I admit that I admire a small group of sports personalities that includes Dravid.

Coming to the point, the media and the people believe that stats give a clear picture of how bad or good a cricketer is. So, the immediate weapon they have is Dravid’s poor running since 2007. I made a quick query on the statsguru provided by Cricinfo website for matches starting after 1 Jan 2007 and until Mohali test and the complaints appeared to be true.
Mat Inns NO Runs Ave BF SR 100 50
21 39 4 1243 35.51 3058 40.64 2 7

It should be accepted that this is an average performance for a cricketer of such high quality.

But, wait a second before jumping into conclusions. As they stats do not always tell the truth and we can tweak them the way we like to win our argument. I have felt that the actual match situation should be considered before rating a player. So, I have gone though innings by innings performance of the above 39 innings.

- 22 innings were scores below 30.
- 4 of these 22 were not outs (1 retired hurt, 1 in successful chase in Kanpur)
- 18 innings of < 30 out of 39 : almost 45% is not acceptable
- In 5 tests out of 21, he did not cross 30. In Melbourne, he went as opener; Kanpur was a dustbowl; in Colombo, he got one of the balls of century in first innings.

He got some rough decisions, frequent stunners (check inning-wise analysis at the end) and sometimes he threw away his wicket in his mid-thirties that was uncharacteristic of him. Being out of ODI team did not help much either going to first match of the series without decent match practice.

Therefore, I believe he is not really out of form and his reflexes are not lost, though he is not batting as fluently as he did in the golden era of first half of this decade. I wish he comes back with a style.

This whole exercise is not to prove something about one of my favorite players, but for the fear of losing the privilege of enjoying the elegant batting for a few more months, if not years.

A small analysis of his failures innings by innings –

Runs	Mins	BF	Opposition	Ground	Date	Comments
29	63	58	v South Africa	Cape Town	2-Jan-07	Decent outing
47	204	134	v South Africa	Cape Town	2-Jan-07
2	19	11	v Bangladesh	Chittagong (CDS)	18-May-07	Out to a stunning catch when India were trying to put quick runs on board - 100/6 out of 24
61	154	99	v Bangladesh	Chittagong (CDS)	18-May-07
129	215	176	v Bangladesh	Dhaka (SBNS)	25-May-07
2	15	12	v England	Lord's	19-Jul-07
9	18	12	v England	Lord's	19-Jul-07
37	136	94	v England	Nottingham	27-Jul-07
11*	45	28	v England	Nottingham	27-Jul-07
12	140	96	v England	The Oval	9-Aug-07	This was the worst innings I saw him playing
55	131	101	v England	The Oval	9-Aug-07
34	141	96	v Pakistan	Delhi	22-Nov-07	Everyone remembers this - Shoaib Akhtar to Dravid, OUT, outstanding ball, he's cleaned up him and Pakistan love it.
38	108	73	v Pakistan	Delhi	22-Nov-07	Sohail Tanvir to Dravid, OUT, bowled by a beauty!.
50	170	118	v Pakistan	Kolkata	30-Nov-07
8*	20	13	v Pakistan	Kolkata	30-Nov-07
19	45	28	v Pakistan	Bangalore	8-Dec-07
42	211	121	v Pakistan	Bangalore	8-Dec-07
5	103	66	v Australia	Melbourne	26-Dec-07	Once again proving his unselfishness, he agreed to open to accommodate Yuvraj. Though, out of form and unable to score, he was there for 21 overs - I would say that very few Indian openers did that post Gavaskar in Australia.
16	154	114	v Australia	Melbourne	26-Dec-07	100+ balls
38	152	103	v Australia	Sydney	2-Jan-08
53	240	160	v Australia	Sydney	2-Jan-08
3	5	5	v Australia	Perth	16-Jan-08
93	278	183	v Australia	Perth	16-Jan-08
18	73	55	v Australia	Adelaide	24-Jan-08
11*	98	64	v Australia	Adelaide	24-Jan-08	Retired hurt
111	396	291	v South Africa	Chennai	26-Mar-08
3	51	26	v South Africa	Ahmedabad	3-Apr-08	Steyn to Dravid, OUT, superb delivery and India are staring down the barrel here!
17	55	41	v South Africa	Ahmedabad	3-Apr-08
29	151	106	v South Africa	Kanpur	11-Apr-08	Morkel to Dravid, OUT, caught! That's a vicious ball and Dravid is hurt as well, a good length ball pitches outside off stump and rears up sharply at Dravid who comes half forward and tries to defend, the ball angles into the right-hander and the bounce is so steep that the ball smashes into Dravid's glove and lobs up to de Villiers at gully, Dravid is in pain as he walks off the ground
18*	36	29	v South Africa	Kanpur	11-Apr-08	18 not out while chasing 73 on a dust bowl
10	41	30	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	23-Jul-08	This is one of the balls of century! Nothing much to do. Mendis to Dravid, OUT, What a beauty from Mendis! His first Test wicket. Rahul Dravid is beaten all hands up. The flicker, the carrom ball does the trick. It landed on the middle stump, a unsure Dravid was on the back foot and it cut away quickly towards the off stump, past the poke and crashed into the top of the off stump. Dravid is stunned, looks back to confirm what his ears told him. The death rattle. The middle-finger assassin is on the prowl at SSC. R Dravid b Mendis 14 (55m 35b 2x4
14	55	35	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	23-Jul-08
2	7	6	v Sri Lanka	Galle	31-Jul-08	This was not out as per rule - Mendis to Dravid, OUT, Another failure for Dravid. The wall is cracking from side to side. It was the quickish off break, Dravid was on the front foot, looking to defend. The ball turned from outside off stump, collided with the inside edge and went to short leg who juggled with it before holding on. Two quick wickets. Mendis leads Sri Lankan fight back. Wonderful Test match. Hold on, some drama regarding Dravid's dismissal. The ball popped off the short-leg fielder, hit the right shoulder and then rebounded off the helmet grill before he caught it again. LAW 32 (Caught) - Section 3 e fair catch -A catch shall be considered to have been fairly made if a fielder catches the ball after it has touched an umpire, another fielder or the other batsman. However, it is not a fair catch if the ball has touched a protective helmet worn by a fielder, although the ball remains in play. anyway that's that
44	133	92	v Sri Lanka	Galle	31-Jul-08
10	52	29	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (PSS)	8-Aug-08
68	226	166	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (PSS)	8-Aug-08
5	15	13	v Australia	Bangalore	9-Oct-08	Lee to Dravid, OUT, what a catch by Ponting!
51	149	104	v Australia	Bangalore	9-Oct-08
39	118	70	v Australia	Mohali	17-Oct-08