He's Mr Nice Guy, Too Nice

In the critical half-hour-long meeting between Ganguly, Chappell and manager Amitabh Chaudhary, the vice-captain reiterated his position. Chappell eventually agreed with Dravid and the problem seems to have been dealt with—for now. As always, in a crisis Dravid showed that he follows an issue-based rather than a personality-based approach.

Had he backed Chappell, Dravid would have been accused of playing dirty with Ganguly, of being selfish. But he sought no credit for himself, believing what he did to be his responsibility. Chaudhary was all praise for Dravid, acknowledging the vice-captain's fire-fighting skills. "I must appreciate Rahul's role in the past week. He came across really well," he said.

Yet, in keeping with his practice of keeping his counsel in public, particularly on delicate issues, Dravid is yet to comment on the Bulawayo incident. And it's in keeping with his character, if the past is any indication. Till this day, he has not said anything on record on what became a controversial declaration in Multan, when Sachin Tendulkar was six runs short of a double century. Tendulkar expressed his surprise but Dravid did not find a need to go public with either an explanation or with news of his meeting Tendulkar the following morning to resolve the issue.

If the Bulawayo episode caused him any stress, he has not let anyone know. Not even his closest confidants. It's a quality his fans have always cherished, the selflessness of the true team man.

As it is, sources say Dravid did not reckon with the Chappell-Ganguly tiff leaking to the media. He had little control over the storm. But it blew away and Dravid perhaps had as large a role in that happening as anyone else. As someone once said, his character is such that he probably could have a bright future in India's diplomatic corps.