Dravid unfurls his repertoire overseas yet again

His 10th century could not have come at a better time. Although Rahul Dravid has always been reputed to play better abroad, his last century away from home came at Colombo in 1998-99. Dravid needed this century, but the team needed it more, so, in the very first Test of the series, Dravid showed why he is tagged Mr Dependable.

He had scores of 35 and six, nine and 14, and 29 and 0 on the tour to Australia in 2000; two and 11, two and 87 in South Africa six months ago. But there is no denying the fact that he has scored tons of runs against all other opponents in their backyards and successfully defended his reputation of being India's best bat abroad.

Now, with this match-saving century - his sixth outside the sub-continent - one compiled after being hit painfully by a Mervyn Dillon bouncer, Dravid has challenged Sourav Ganguly for the number three spot in the batting order. Ganguly will be under enormous pressure during the Trinidad Test, starting from April 19, if he chooses to bat at one-drop again.

There was an interesting statistic from Dravid's first hundred in Caribbean. He played as many as 277 dot balls, but significantly, he hit 23 boundaries. Dravid has always had difficult in finding the gaps with ease, but he has shown that ability as soon as his number three position is taken usurped - either by VVS Laxman or by Ganguly.

Remember Kolkata? He tried to match Laxman stroke for stroke as they authored the most sensational victory in the history of Indian cricket. Once he got back to his usual number three slot against Zimbabawe, South Africa or England, the flair went missing again. When Ganguly decided to come in at number three, his bat regained touch once more.

Ravi Shastri, Michael Holding and even Geoffrey Boycott are now overwhelmingly advocating that Dravid should be handed back his number three spot. Incidentally, all of them had advocated ousting him from that position just a couple of months ago.

"I have always batted this way, and I am happy that the innings came when the team needed it," was all he would say, repeating what he had said in Kolkata, stressing the fact that the media had always been unkind towards his approach.

India need him bat in such authoritative mein, not only save matches but also to win a Test abroad. Along with Sachin Tendulkar, he will be the one on whom India will be depending on to earn a Test win abroad against a good opponent.

Fortunately both of them realised and acknowledged that they have to play exceptionally well to earn such a victory before coming on this tour. They tried their best at Guyana, playing in the interests of the team. With a little help from the skipper, who is having a pathetic run abroad, the dream may yet come true.

However, the question remains: why does a man who, possessing such a wonderful technique - which is not a crime, as he himself says, but an asset - become so reluctant when the question of opening the innings appears? Why does he uncharacteristically edge the ball to slip if he is forced to open the innings, even though he must surely know that India need him at the top of the order, along with Shiv Sunder Das, to provide solidity to the Indian batting from the very first delivery?