IPL 2017: Suresh Raina's gesture proves being nice is being good!

After Rahul Dravid played the famous cut shot towards point boundary at Adelaide in 2003 to script one of India’s most dramatic and memorable overseas Test victory, everyone focused their eyes on Dravid to catch his uncharacteristic aggressive celebrations.

But Steve Waugh, skipper of the opposite side who in course of three days, watched the India batsman steal the game from right under Australia’s nose insisted on getting the ball back which was disdainfully sent to the fence. He then made a point to hand over that ball to Dravid as a souvenir.

This was not an act of ‘sportsmen spirit’, the clichéd word mostly used in cricket. This was the manner in which Steve Waugh played his cricket and carried out his affairs. As they say, you can never act being nice, you have to be nice.

The return of the “good men”

The incident happened 13 years back and during this period cricket went through several changes, one of which is the acceptance of rudeness and shameless demeaning of opposition as aggression. But something happened yesterday in the match between Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils which once again made us feel good about the nice guys in cricket.

Rishabh Pant was out caught behind while playing on 97 and the young southpaw was clearly livid and frustrated on losing out on a hundred which everyone believed he deserved. But as he stood at the crease sinking in the gravity of his mistake, Suresh Raina, captain of Gujarat, walked to him and consoled him.

Again, this was not an act of mere sportsmen spirit. This was something more, something deep and something that made the statement that even in this era of relentless aggression, being nice does not mean being soft.

No one likes to lose a game after scoring a brilliant half-century and piling up 200 plus runs. And when a defeat would mean giving up on a place in play-offs, the agony is multiplied. Suresh Raina was experiencing this agony as he helplessly watched Rishabh Pant’s power hitting making a mockery of Gujarat’s target.

And when finally Basil Thampi put an end to Pant’s blitzkrieg, Raina must have felt some relief. But the Lions captain before engulfing the celebrations made a point to go the young batsman and give him the credit that he had earned through his efforts.

A helping hand for the future star

It was a moment worth cherishing; maybe a moment which deserves to be framed among IPL’s most iconic moments. Rishabh Pant standing at the crease, making sense of his missed shot and digesting the pain of missing out on a century and also digesting the fact that he just ruined one of his biggest dreams. A dream which every youngster follows- scoring a century in difficult conditions, in front of a packed stadium, surrounded by cricket legends that he idolised as he grew up.

And who would have realised Pant’s emotions better than Raina? The man who himself rose through the ranks by grinding himself day in day out, a man who pushed his way through the tiny town of Muradnagar, facing all the obstacles to emerge as one of India’s prominent present day batsmen and a man who always enjoys successes of his team-mate as passionately as his own successes.

Indeed among all the men, it had to be Raina to act in that manner. He quietly went to Pant, shook the grill of Pant’s helmet and then tapped on his chest and all this while uttering words to prevent Pant from getting into despair.

This is what Raina is about. He knew the man in front of him has just shunned his hopes of reaching the play-offs but for Raina more than his personal thoughts, the bigger picture was important. The left-hand batsman had maybe just played his breakthrough innings and he needed to be acclaimed for that. And as usual Suresh Raina was there to do that.

And maybe this is the reason why Suresh Raina gets more excited than the bowler when a wicket falls, and this is also the reason why he celebrates before Kohli when the latter gets a hundred against Pakistan in the world cup.

Suresh Raina has always been one of cricket’s nicest guys. And it doesn’t mean he is defensive. It is just that beyond his attitude, beyond his winning spirit, stays ignited the feeling that whatever the outcome, he would never stop himself from enjoying the game.

Raina’s yesterday’s gesture also proved that being nice is still acceptable in cricket and by being nice towards your opposition doesn’t mean lessening your own worth. It was a throwback to the old attitude which says, some days, no matter how good you are, someone from the opposition will be better than you. And on such days you have two options. Either feel jealous about it and rue your luck or take your hat off and smile and move on.

Yesterday Rishabh Pant put an exhibition to teach how to become a batsman and Suresh Raina put an exhibition to teach how to become a sportsman.