Chip off the old Wall

Rahul Dravid may have scored centuries aplenty and he is proud of each and every one of them. But one hundred that would have given him greater satisfaction did not come from his willow. Rather, it came from the blade of his 10-year-old son, Samit.

Samit, bespectacled and right-handed batsman, scored a match-winning 125 with 22 fours and a six for Bangalore United CC in the under-14 category of Tiger Cup cricket tournament in Bengaluru on Tuesday. The tournament is an annual fixture among clubs and schools and not only provides Bengaluru Under-12, 14 and 17 players a platform to showcase their skills but also is aimed at tiger conservation.

The tournament also has the blessings of Karnataka State Cricket Association and has roped in international stars Harbhajan Singh, Yusuf Pathan and former India batsman and current chairman of national selectors Sandeep Patil as its ambassadors.

Emerging from this tournament is the dashing cub Samit, who was awarded the 'Tiger of the tournament' last year in the U-12 category.

Samit has been creating ripples in Bengaluru local circuit, scoring runs consistently. But his 125 was his first century in a competitive tournament “though he has scored three-figure marks in other matches”, according to those who have followed Samit's progress closely.

“Samit is a very good player with all the shots. He is technically very sound like his father and finds the placements right. He is a very confident and patient too, like his dad. If he continues to play like this and goes through the grade, he is one for the future,” said a close friend of Dravid and who has seen many a Samit innings in the local circles.

It is said in local Bengaluru circles that Samit is a more attacking batsman than his father. “He’s got a good hand-eye coordination. He just smashes it (the ball) and that is what I encourage him to do – just smash it,” Dravid spoke about his son in an interview to wisdenindia.com late last year.

Dravid does not interfere much in Samit's game, it is learnt. He said in the same interview: “I don’t really get into trying to coach him (Samit) too much. I just want him to enjoy it and just play the game, have some fun with it.”

Dravid is also aware of what the famous surname could do to his son's future. We have seen in the past that Rohan was nowhere near what his famous father Sunil Gavaskar achieved. Arjun has not set the Mumbai maidans afire in the same manner as his illustrious father Sachin Tendulkar did when he was in school. Yet the comparison never ceases to stop.

Joseph Hoover, a former cricket journalist in Bengaluru who puts together the Tiger Cup tournament every year and who has known the Dravids for many years, said, “Rahul has made it very clear about protecting his children from the media and people should respect that. They should stop making comparisons between the father and the son, and let Samit be himself.”

Dravid (Sr), in that interview, said: “That’s (famous surname) something he (Samit) will learn to deal with. It’s not easy, we wouldn’t want it that way but I guess that’s what it is, that’s the reality of it and that’s what it is going to be. Sometimes, you want to grow up as children in an anonymous situation, without pressure and without people watching you, noticing you. That might not be possible for him. But that’s the way it is and he has got to deal with it.”

One thing is for sure, the name Dravid will continue to be in the news in times to come.