The Wall

I should have written a post about him much earlier but again I am happy that I am writing about him at last, Rahul Sharad Dravid. A man who has been playing for India for almost 15 years now. Ever since he burst into the cricketing world on 1996, he has been a greatest contributor to Indian Cricket.



People say he has been one of the pillars of Indian cricket, I would like to re-frame it, before that lets take the ODI squad when Dravid was part of it, lets say 2003 WC squad, of the biggest success India has had when Dravid was playing.

SR Tendulkar, V Sehwag, SC Ganguly , M Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, D Mongia, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, J Srinath, A Nehra

I have removed Dravid’s name out of squad, lets analyze, we have the best opening pair no doubt, we have a good batsman in the name of Ganguly, remember this was India in 2003, the name which are in the middle order were termed “youngsters”. Of course no doubt on their abilities and capabilities but dependency? Remember openers can have the license to go after bowling only if the know they can depend on middle order. India heavily depended upon Rahul Dravid! and the whole world knows what a team player he is, even from his childhood he was a team player, he said "I loved team games. I was not particularly fascinated by cricket in the initial stages. In fact I used to play a lot of hockey. The important thing though was that I enjoyed being with other young boys and hence looked forward to team sport in any form. Of course a whole lot of kids in the area played cricket rather than anything else and I joined in the fun. The matches against the other teams in the neighboring streets or locality brought forth a lot of competitiveness." 
Many do argue his capabilities in an ODI game, but what they do not understand is:

1. Dravid is the third indian and sixth in the world to have crossed 10,000 ODI runs.
2. He was the top scorer in 1999 world cup.
3. Has the record of not being dismissed on duck for 120 consecutive ODI matches
4. The only batsman to have been involved in two ODI partnerships exceeding 300 runs.
5. 3rd Highest number of fifties – 82 , after Sachin and Inzamam.
6. He still holds the record for the second fastest 50 by an Indian in ODI!! Can’t believe in a team with Sehwag, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Pathan. Yes dravid holds the record for second fastest fifty and first place is held by Ajit Agarkar  

Here is another fun fact: During his captaincy the Indian team broke the record for most consecutive won matches in One-Day Internationals while batting second, 17 wins! As I said earlier his role was not a pillar of Indian cricket team but he was the basement, people rode and climbed to greatness with him supporting, they knew he was there to grind out the opposition when everything fails.

Moving on to Test, do I have to point out? Second highest run getter in world of test, holds the record of highest number of catches in test, First player to score a century against every Test playing nation away from home! Besides all these there more fun facts:

Dravid has scored nearly 23% of the total runs put up by India (with a batting average of 102.84) in the 21 Test matches won under Ganguly's captaincy. This is the highest percentage contribution by any batsman in Test cricket history in matches won under a single captain where the captain has won more than 20 Tests.

Since his Test debut on June 20, 1996, nobody has more Test runs than Dravid. Not even Tendulkar. Rahul dravid has scored 12,417 runs(including first test of the 2011 England tour) while Sachin Tendulkar has 12,243.

Lets test our memory a little, when was the last time you heard Rahul Dravid was injured and not playing for India? Interestingly he holds a record in that too! He holds the second longest streak of consecutive tests since his debut – 95 tests! How is that for fitness? India has lost only 3 test(including the two in 2011 England tour) when he has scored a century and he has 34 century to his name. And of course his innings at Kolkata, 180 runs, He was down with viral fever before the start of the Test. To come into a match in that physical state, and play such an important knock in a pressure situation only shows how mentally tough Rahul Dravid is!



Enough of the stats and records, you may find them in Google, what I love about dravid is his attitude. Rahul Dravid may not be a treat on the eyes like Sachin or Sehwag, but he is no less than them. Courage is one quality that always stands out; Dravid is about as courageous as any Indian cricketer might ever have been. His wrist work may not be as smooth as VVS, his cover drive might not be as elegant as Ganguly, his straight drive might not be as pleasing as Sachin’s, he is not gifted as others. But he was dedicated, hard working, patience has been his childhood friend, he hit the nets early, that is why even now when you see Dravid play a shot you hear the commentator saying “textbook shot”. He has shown to the younger generation that greatness can be achieved with dedication and hard work. Each game he had to increase his standards, set a new goal to himself and compete with level of others. He is an ordinary man with extra ordinary temperament and that is what separates the men from the boys.

Cricket as many other sport is an instinctive game but Dravid made it look like a game of chess. He ducks and weaves the balls bombarded at him, he mocks the bowler with intelligence, each time committing to memory of what he has practiced and defusing the bowler with his own superior ability. There is no waffling in his defense, mightier the enemy the more decisive will be his response and he seems to tell the bowler “Your move, please”. He is a perfectionist, be it the shot selection, the technique, even in choosing the right words. He’s not tempted by the glory of a few quick boundaries, or the dance down the wicket for the big six. He’s patient, and he wants the team to win, whether he needs to get a dozen or a hundred. Many teams regarded his wicket as the most crucial wicket, bowlers know that they will have to sweat and toil for his wicket. They will have to out think him, con him, get him with sheer genius. He will not just hand it to you. And yet people try to fit him into one of the stereotypes, ignoring the fact he has played extra ordinary innings in grounds which were termed difficult to play.

When you see Sachin scoring a century you stand up and go “YES”, but when Dravid score a century, you sit down have a smile and wait for heart to be filled with warmth. Though lack of acknowledgement never demotivated him! He has still maintained that selfless approach towards his love – Cricket! No matter the selectors pick him or drop him, he will continue making contributions in the Indian cricket, he plays Ranji trophy whenever he gets a chance! one thing which makes him superior over other players is his selfless, generous and unselfish approach towards the game! And this fact is enough to prove all those critics who babble about this icon. In this team, where we have all the politics running in the veins, players fighting to get slots, players blaming the schedule, we have one such player who thinks above all these aspects – he is Rahul Dravid! and very fittingly in Harsha Bhogle’s book “The winning way”, Dravid has written the afterward about what is it to play in a team. In a brutal arena, which cricket field can be sometimes, Rahul Dravid, nicknamed “THE WALL”, is a calm, sensible, and selfless fighter who has created histories after histories.

                            Dedicated to Rahul Dravid, a man who I admire!