I borrow a paragraph from this article, though it has no relation to cricket. I can't say it better if I tried my damnest -

In a recent 'Wizard of Id' cartoon strip, the town crier announces, "Six O'clock and time for lies, distortions, and half truths." A citizen pokes his head out the window and asks, "What happened to the news?" The crier replies, "This is the news!"

Team India (btw, the right to call it that is presently being contested by the ICL in court) is a group of happy chums of the highest integrity and honour. They support each other, they are brothers at heart, and they are eleven fingers of the same hand (ewww... but couldn't think of another phrase to describe the amazing unity in the team).

All those news stories about there being rifts, rival camps and ego clashes were all a big story made up by the bad media who just wanted a story. This is what Ravi Shastri told us (http://www.cricketnext.com/news/shastri-not-to-seek-extension-of-contract/25206-13.html) when he went back to his commentating job after saving Indian cricket on the tour of Bangladesh -

"I thought that was nonsense. I know now that it is absolute nonsense. I don't know what happens two months down the line. Right now it's absolute nonsense," he said.

And yet, after a successful tour of England, where the team did well to take the Test series and almost take the ODI series, the captain who should be on a high suddenly decides to resign the post. A mind-blowing decision to be making on the back of a history-making series!

The standard lines would be toted - I want to concentrate on my batting; I was feeling mentally strained with the twin loads of captaincy and batting; whatever other nonsense can be trotted out.

Is that the image we have of Rahul Dravid? A man who goes through two series of not-so-great batting but still gets the series, and decides to resign and leave the team in a lurch because he wants to spend more time on his batting? The Rahul Dravid I have observed over the years, albeit on television, would probably wake up a little early and go to sleep a little late, so he could fit in that extra batting practice if he felt he wasn't getting enough. He would read up a couple of extra books on how to cope with expectations and pressures, rather than saying, "Oh, maybe I can't do it, maybe I ought to quit."

Whether Rahul Dravid is a good captain or not is not under discussion here. Frankly speaking, he hasn't been over-inspiring but his sincerity was never under doubt. To date, no one has been able to convince me that the decision to not enforce the follow-on in England was the way to go for a team that was clearly the dominant team in the match.

But the point here is different! Why does Rahul Dravid have to resign? What makes him think he can't handle the pressure? Is it his batting or .... or .... or .... could it be that the rifts, the rival camps, the ego clashes, etc., that never existed are getting to a man who has always played with a straight bat?

Yes, this is pure speculation, but while I cannot see any juicy quotes from Dravid in the coming days over what prompted his decision, I can see the media freaking out with quotes from unnamed sources. I have a feeling there will be so much juice in the news coverage in the coming days, lemons will get a complex.

The only comment that comes to mind right now is - Hey, the fun has just begun again!