A tribute to Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid's arrival in mid-1996 did a lot of good to Indian cricket. He was another middle-class Indian all set to control and steer Indian cricket forward. He was deter-mined and passionate, committed and hard-working. He was a typical modern Indian who belonged to middle-class ethos and with a global outlook. The away pitches of Australia, South Africa and England did not scare him for he represented a different India, hardly ever insecure. Dravid epitomised virtues that a turn of the century India would need; reliability, reliability and further reliability.
Even when things did not necessarily go his way, his commitment never wavered. How do we define Rahul Dravid in a sentence? The answer is fairly simple. Had Sachin Tendulkar not played his cricket at the same time, Dravid would surely be the best batsman to have ever played the game for India. At a time when we are ruing our sudden dip in form in overseas conditions, Dravid's achievements overseas, more than anything else, appear staggering.
Most if not all of India's famous away wins between 2002-08 have one common factor, Dravid. Not always associated with his style of batsmanship, Dravid has been the catalyst for all of India's famous overseas Test wins in the course of the last decade, a record incredible enough to catapult him to the echelons of the game's greatest of all time.
Rediscovering himself against Steve Waugh's Australians at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2001 with a peerless 180, Dravid fashioned the Headingley (2002), Adelaide (2003-04), Rawalpindi (2004), Kingston (2006) and Perth (2008) away wins for his team. His scores in these matches, 148, 232 and 72, 270, 81 and 68 in a low-scoring contest in Jamaica and 93 are Bradman-esque figures, which put the debate over who is the best ever number three of all time after the Don himself.
No tribute to Rahul Dravid can be complete without mentioning his off-field persona. Even when the going was tough, he exuded a sense of calm at press conferences, just like the way he batted. Dravid is recognized as a true ambassador of the game. He never gesticulated to the crowd nor hurled abuses at the opposition nor misbehaved with scribes nor acted in a high-handed manner. Not without reason does Tendulkar say, "There was, and is, only one Rahul Dravid and there can be no other."
All his cricketing achievements are owing to his sheer determination and unflinching commitment and integrity in his approach to the game. Dravid wasn't particularly suited to the 50-over format. Yet, he ended up scoring 10,000 runs. This statistic, more than any other, defines Dravid the cricketer.
To conclude, it is fitting to leave the last words on Dravid to Tendulkar, who has spent more time with him on the field than any other player over the last 16 years. "For someone who has played 164 Test matches and scored 13,200-plus runs, no tribute can be enough.”
Rahul Dravid's arrival in mid-1996 did a lot of good to Indian cricket. He was another middle-class Indian all set to control and steer Indian cricket forward. He was deter-mined and passionate, committed and hard-working. He was a typical modern Indian who belonged to middle-class ethos and with a global outlook. The away pitches of Australia, South Africa and England did not scare him for he represented a different India, hardly ever insecure. Dravid epitomised virtues that a turn of the century India would need; reliability, reliability and further reliability.
Even when things did not necessarily go his way, his commitment never wavered. How do we define Rahul Dravid in a sentence? The answer is fairly simple. Had Sachin Tendulkar not played his cricket at the same time, Dravid would surely be the best batsman to have ever played the game for India. At a time when we are ruing our sudden dip in form in overseas conditions, Dravid's achievements overseas, more than anything else, appear staggering.
Most if not all of India's famous away wins between 2002-08 have one common factor, Dravid. Not always associated with his style of batsmanship, Dravid has been the catalyst for all of India's famous overseas Test wins in the course of the last decade, a record incredible enough to catapult him to the echelons of the game's greatest of all time.
Rediscovering himself against Steve Waugh's Australians at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2001 with a peerless 180, Dravid fashioned the Headingley (2002), Adelaide (2003-04), Rawalpindi (2004), Kingston (2006) and Perth (2008) away wins for his team. His scores in these matches, 148, 232 and 72, 270, 81 and 68 in a low-scoring contest in Jamaica and 93 are Bradman-esque figures, which put the debate over who is the best ever number three of all time after the Don himself.
No tribute to Rahul Dravid can be complete without mentioning his off-field persona. Even when the going was tough, he exuded a sense of calm at press conferences, just like the way he batted. Dravid is recognized as a true ambassador of the game. He never gesticulated to the crowd nor hurled abuses at the opposition nor misbehaved with scribes nor acted in a high-handed manner. Not without reason does Tendulkar say, "There was, and is, only one Rahul Dravid and there can be no other."
All his cricketing achievements are owing to his sheer determination and unflinching commitment and integrity in his approach to the game. Dravid wasn't particularly suited to the 50-over format. Yet, he ended up scoring 10,000 runs. This statistic, more than any other, defines Dravid the cricketer.
To conclude, it is fitting to leave the last words on Dravid to Tendulkar, who has spent more time with him on the field than any other player over the last 16 years. "For someone who has played 164 Test matches and scored 13,200-plus runs, no tribute can be enough.”
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