Unhappy Dravid walks Out of Ceremony

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/pak...ory/232262.html

January 10, 2006


The smiles didn't last very long at the Allianz Cup unveling ceremony © Getty Images

In an unexpected turn of events, Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, walked out of the Cup unveiling ceremony held at the team hotel in Lahore on Monday evening. Dravid was reportedly upset at the unprofessional manner in which the ceremony was managed by the organizers and Allianz, the sponsors for the Test series.

Dravid arrived on time for the ceremony but was made to wait half an hour for Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain to arrive. The latter, however, did apologize for it. Making matters worse were the seating arrangements for the captains, which were inconvenient at best.

While the sponsors and Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chief, occupied all the seats on the dias, the captains were made to sit in the front row. After all the ritual speeches were made, the organisers announced that the captains would take questions from the media.

The media then requested that the captains be made to sit on the dias, ensuring smooth conduct of the question round. However, the organisers ruled it out, stating that even the dignitaries on the dias would take questions. This proved to be a major inconvenience to both the media as well as the captains. Only a couple of questions were asked, for which the response was hardly audible.

A while later, the captains finally made their way to the dias for the Cup unveiling ceremony. Dravid, who was already peeved at the inefficiency and chaos which marked the evening, quietly walked out without informing anyone.

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This explains a lot.

I have to say, watching the coverage of this last night on Geo, it was noticeable that Dravid do not look his normal calm and self-assured self. In fact he looked very out of sorts, and uncomfortable. It struck me as very odd

Now the facts have emerged, it's obvious he ws well p****d off with the unprofessional way the whole thing was being handled. ( I have to say, if I was in his postion, I probably would have left as well).

(The other thing I noticed was what a dude Inzi looked in in his new leather jacket )

Lets hope it affects his batting, maybe he'll try and lash out and throw his wicket away... lol unlikely but you never know.

So is disorganization the excuse number 1 after they go back home loosing both the ODI and the test series?

..lol this wont effect him no way..hes too good a player for that to happen.

I saw the ceremony, good on him for walking out, i saw the seating arrangements, they were poor to say the least, inzi and dravid sat next to each other(literally next to each other-no room to breathe)-dravid didnt look too happy, inzi just managed to squeeze himself onto the chair.

Im suprised inzi didnt walk out

Exactly what I was thinking , Yaar. Very poor stuff by the sponsors.

Excellent!

Too much hospitality. All the great leaders arrive late to create an 'aura' of invincibility.

India now know that they are on foreign soil and hopefully they will be constantly reminded of it!

Enough of this 'friendship' nonsense that Pak seemed to have embraced...enough of the hospitality...

This is nothing to do with lack of professionalism...its all about getting under the skin of the Indians...just like England...who wanted to get out of Pak before they even arrived.

Inzi getting the psychological advantage? Who would have thtough it!!!

Oxy it would be cool if that was Inzi's plan, but tbh the Big Man is simply too nice to be that devious, and he showed his class by apologising for being late.

I think the reason he was late has more to do with the fact that he was feeling under the weather, than trying to get under Dravid's skin. Inzi's smart enough to realise that Dravid is too level -headed and professional to let something like that affect his game.


At the end of the day, Inzi is such a great player and leader, he doesn't need to resort to this sort of "gamesmanship" to get the psychological advantage. His and the teams performance's on the field have been enough to put Dravid and and the rest of he Indian team under pressure before a bowl has been bowled

(And besides, he knows that Dravid has enough problems already with Gangs in the team )

By being bad hosts isnt a good thing! Good on Dravid for walking out. In this day and age, there is no excuse for disorganisation. After all, who cares about seeing the sponsers or officials, we want to see the captains first and foremost. Thats just blatant disrespect.

The pressure has started to mount on Dravid!

theyre all on edge!

No, It ws a Pakistan ploy to upset Dravid before the first test!

Not only does Inzi show up late, but he tells Dravid the wrong dress code and shows him up

he have handled the pressure very well in the past....its not a new thing for dravid...

Chill out yaara, I said exactly the same thing two hours ago. (post #5).

Top one Amir !

hes probably practicing walking back to the pavilion.

people who think pressure is on dravid..dont know what theyre chatting about...nothing will get to him!

Dravid is not superhuman! This is first time he's captaining Pakistan in tests. The pressure will be on him big time!

Wasnt really having a go bro, just that the whole thing was unprofessional. On another note, not sure whether thats got anything to do with pressure just that he was peeved.

Oh by the way guys, Eid Mubarak!

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why do i see this when i click on the link of the story? and why do i not see anything on the cricinfo site on the matter ..... are you sure this story actually exists?

oh right hes captaining pak now

overlord, thats intresting, it was working in the morning

I saw the ceremony and was disappointed at Dravid's conduct, unprofessional is a word fitting for both the ceremony and Mr Dravid.

Maybe he had the runs...

well dravid is a bit foolish cause i dnt feel that pakistan gt the best treatment wen they toured india even buy there fans, and there tour before that 2 pakistan they were very very well catered for and dravid was one to say this. Know after they didnt treat us with the same way, y should we.

what a sissy that ass is. "oo it was not organized, i didnt feel important enough, so i am not playing"
here goes indians and their typical whinning in the media and all over.
What a sore looser, just like the other 1 billion of his fellow sorry country men

Dont understand how his country can be blamed for anything !!

Firstly, we invited him to a ceremony, then we insulted him by making him wait, on top of that when he feels a little upset we are saying that not only does he but his countrymen are sore losers ? Can you see any logic in there ?

Choree aur Seena Zoree !!!

Dravid is one of the best ambassadors of the game and a true gentleman - good going that we pee-ed him off ! Maybe we should try that with Warne or is Dravid too soft a target ?

Dravid must have been well p****d off!.........I hope he gets into the mood he is when he his about to score a big hundred. Dravid wont be under-pressure..........nothing gets to him.

It might be Pakistans ploy to get under the skin off Dravid.......but it wont work on Dravid.

'Mujhe larkay cheirtay hein.'

hahahhahaahahahahaha!

I disagree with MIG here..I am sure that Ganguly would have handled it with a smile and not stormed off.

Methinks Dravid (nice guy) is under the kosh a bit!

And the series hasn't even started yet!

*cough* lozenge *cough*

He was the captain in two out of three tests on the last tour.

Oh and BTW, 1 billion Indians suck because the captain of their cricket team was a bit miffed at being ill treated by the authorities.

Oxy he aint coming back to Glamorgan so you dont have to be nice to Ganguly !

He is I tell you...he is!

In my view, that is just typical bullcrap that happens in Pakistan. Stupid self-important officials and dignitaries that no one gives a damn about - apart from the ass-kissers who hang around them - trying to take all the attention and treating the people that really matter like crap.

I'm glad to hear Dravid walked out. Good on him.

I read "unhappy Dravid walks out of ceremony" as Dravid politely excuses himself from the ceremony after meeting all his obligations.

journalists exaggerate everything.

The real questions in't why dravid stealthyly disappeared from the scene. The question is where he went to? I suspect something underhanded.

The world is coming to the end as we know it, Nauman shows his first ever sign of any optimism.

Totally agree. Typical Desi Bull**** Inzi should have gone with him.
(Actually what would have been really cool was if Inzi had said :

" Screw you guys, I'm going home!" (a la Cartman from South Park) , and then walked out.

Yep, typical media hype.
Man I'll be so glad when all the talking stops and the cricket actually starts!

First and the foremost thing , how does it matter ( obviously to the outcome of the impending cricket series) - if Dravid walked out or not ?? If a thing of such magnitude gets his batting affected then he'd probably have been dead by now of cardiac arrest after seeing one Sourav Ganguly in the team

On the flip side though If Inzi had really gone under the skin of Dravid , it would have clearly been visible .. aint it ?? lol

Whoever suggested that this was a masterplan of inzi:
( Although He certainly seemed pretty happy at the end of all this, as another fine innings came to a close !!!)

But really, i think dravid and inzi are the two nicest captains around, i think inzi though wasn't annoyed cos he found out about the buffet dinner that the sponors had organised.

Firstly, could someone please remind me when did we Indians mistreat any of the Pakistani players during the last series played in India. If you are point on field treatment what do you expect , the indian crowd cheering a fall of indian wicket ? thats never going to happen.
I was present for one of the matches and we had a few Pakistan fans who had come all the way from Lahore and i dont remember anyone disturbing or intimidating anyone of them.

Yes there always will be those idiots who will throw stuff at players just like i saw someone here talk crap about 1 billion Indians. let me just leave it at that.

Were Dravids actions justified ? I dont know cause i didnt see the ceremony. Inzi is the home captain i dont expect him to walk cause he is representing his country.

But if Dravid walked without informing anyone it just speaks about how noone was even bothered what Dravid was doing untill someone realized .. hey dravid can no longer been seen.

Irrespective of what happened at the ceremony Dravid's behaviour is not acceptable and disappointing. He is an ambassador for his country, he is representing his motherland in a foreign country and he should have known and acted better.

Dravid should have realised by now that these sort of functions, ceremonies in the sub continent are prone to farce.