Ramachandra Guha, in his book ‘The Commonwealth of Cricket’, revealed that cricket legend Rahul Dravid, soon to be head coach of the Indian team, once politely told him to ‘shut up’ about cricket. The ‘historian’ said that Rahul Dravid responded to his unsolicited cricketing advice with words that carried the suggestion that he should stick to history instead of opining on cricket.
In 2007, Rahul Dravid was the captain for a series versus England. Known as a great slip fielder, Dravid was standing at mid-off.
Consequently, Ramachandra Guha wrote to him saying, “You are quite possibly the finest Test batsman in Indian cricket history, and without question the finest slip fielder ever produced by India in ALL forms of the game. You must field there. I understand that with your somewhat erratic bowling you feel the need to be close at hand to guide them. But, all things considered. I think that slip is the place for you, and for the team. No one else in India is remotely as good as you, which is why all these catches go down in the early overs.”
The reply from Dravid came a few days later. He said, ‘You are right… all our history seemed to stop with Gandhi and there’s actually so much that’s happened since for us to be where we are 60 years later. I finished about 180 pages so a fair way to go. Would love to talk about it and much more.’
Ramachandra Guha believed that the reply from the legendary Indian batsman was a polite way of telling him that his advise was neither wanted nor desirable. Guha wrote, “My email to Dravid was unsolicited, unprompted and impertinent—akin in cricketing terms to a bouncer from a bowler of military medium pace, it was dispatched to the boundary with a flick of the wrists. The put-down was decisive; and yet so delicately worded. I was told, in the kindest possible manner, to shut up about strategy in cricket and go back to writing history books. (I did.)”
Guha was later appointed as an administrator of the BCCI, a post he quit soon after. Therefore, his claim that he stuck to writing ‘history’ books appears factually incorrect as well.
Guha had also accused Dravid of conflict of interest for being a mentor of the Delhi Daredevils IPL team while being the coach of India-A and Under-19 teams. Dravid had responded saying, “By the BCCI’s conflict of interest rules, I was absolutely not under a conflict of interest. If the rules have changed midway through the contract, then I think it is unfair to criticise me for breaking the rules or twisting the rules to suit my convenience.”
“My simple point is that, not only me but there are five or six of us who are in the same position. There needs to be clarity. If there is clarity, we will be in a position to take an informed decision. It is disappointing the way this got played out in the public without much understanding of the background,” he added.