The Great Wall of India

The year was 1996. Indian cricket team was on a tour of the British Isles. As usual the Indians were getting beaten left, right and centre. Navjot Singh Sidhu had flown home after a tiff with Mohd. Azharuddin. So, on 20th June 1996, two Indians made their debut for the Indian side at the home of cricket, Lord’s in London. Both the young men left an imprint that day. One made a century on debut and the other fell for 95. I am going to talk about the gentleman who made 95 on debut and was overshadowed by a century on debut, the perennial unsung hero of Indian Cricket, Rahul Sharad Dravid.

I don’t exactly remember when I became a fan of Rahul Dravid. It was right after he made his debut in England, I suppose. I was amazed by his calm demeanour, the seriousness in which he played the game. He was not brash in any way. Very down to earth. He has had ups and downs in his career like any other sportsperson. He had an amazing 1st year of International cricket. Then, he was dropped from the ODI side. The reason given was that his strike rate was not up to the mark. Also, he was predominantly a legside player. Dravid was still playing test cricket. He scored his first test century against South Africa in South Africa, an innings of 148 against the likes of the Allan Donald. He was recalled to the ODI side for the series against Bangladesh and Kenya. I had to sit and watch him struggle against Kenya I think where he scored 1 from 30-odd deliveries. It was very difficult to watch to see such a class act struggle. But he battled it out. He went back to the drawing board, worked hard on his game, and came back to the Indian side for the 1999 World Cup. Dravid was the highest run-getter of the tournament where India was knocked out in the Super Six stage. He then went on to score centuries in both the innings of a test match against the kiwis in New Zealand. Then Sourav Ganguly took over the captaincy and India started a journey towards redemption. I still get Goosebumps when I think of the Kolkata test against Australia in which India won after following-on. People will remember the heroics of VVS Laxman. But Dravid also played one of his most important innings. He contributed 180 to the score and batted a whole day alongside VVS to deny Australia even a single wicket on the 4th day. As the 2003 world cup rolled by, he was asked to keep wickets for the ODI team. He did it without saying anything. The Headingly test where Dravid again scored a century in very demanding conditions. The Adelaide test where he scored 233 and 72* in the second innings and helped India to a famous win on Australian soil after 22 years. Then he was appointed the captain of the side. India under his captaincy won the test series in England. But then came another low point. India got knocked out of the World Cup 2007 in the 1st round itself after embarrassing losses to Bangladesh and Srilanka. No one had asked for his resignation as the captain of the side but he stepped aside himself. And then he struggled, struggled a lot. Finally last year, he had an amazing year where he scored 6 centuries. And then the disaster called the Australian tour came and the rest as they say is history!

I think Dravid has made the decision to retire at the right time. India doesn’t have an overseas tour for the next year. Youngsters can be blooded in the Indian side in home conditions. The coveted No.3 spot is up for grabs.
Rahul Dravid has always handled himself in a very dignified manner, a perfect gentleman in a gentlemen’s game. He is a role model for all youngsters. You don’t have to abuse or show the middle finger to get a point across. Let your performances do the talking.

Rahul, you will be sorely missed. Best of luck for your future ventures. Hope you became a commentator. Atleast, it would give me an incentive to watch the game again. I don’t know if I will watch test cricket again! Thanks a lot for all the memories!

In the end, there is only one Rahul “The Wall” Dravid. There never will be another one!!