My Tribute to the Legend of Cricket - Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid, India’s best Defence or rather “The Wall” as many would call him; retired from international cricket today. Not the day where you would see a full-house stadium giving him standing ovations, not the day where the spotlight is on him, not the day like Gilli & Waugh had in their last test where all the supporters were behind them. Like all his decisions in life, he chose not to make his retirement a grandstanding event. I expected nothing less from a man who has entertained us for 16 years.

He has been an all-rounder all his life as opposed to the perception of people who always considered him as a specialist batsman. I haven’t seen a versatile cricketer like him before. He is one of our best short-leg fielders; he kept wickets when India couldn’t afford a specialist wicket-keeper at the cost of a batsman; he opened the innings when he wasn’t comfortable; he even captained the side in both test & one-day which was least of his interests. He did all that the team needed to without any contemplation. He is a perfectionist & he has proved that every now and then.

I feel sad for the lack of credit he has got over the years. His contributions were shadowed under the lights of Sachin, Shewag, Ganguly. I remember when he used to come to bat, people (or atleast majority of them) would walk away for a break from the match. Why? Because they found him boring, because they thought the score is not going to change for a long time, because they did not want to see the way he leaves the ball or the way he ducks on a bouncy track. They just wanted entertainment which Shewag would provide by his blitzkrieg innings. But for me he always has been a treat to watch.

I remember the intensity with which he studies the game, the concentration with which he reads the pitch, that steady head, the intensity in his eyes following the ball as it leaves the meat of his bat, the focus in the slips where he waits for the batsman to make a mistake & pouches on the opportunity to get him out, the innings which he patiently builds, brick by brick, tiring the bowlers, the late stroke-play of the edge of the bat, the softening of the bottom-hand for the on-drives, the solid defence, the careful leaving of anything too wide, the perfect cover-drive, the follow through of the posture after completing the shot.. None of these would ever feature in any highlights of a match which is all about fours & sixes. None of it can portray the pain with which he built his innings, those trivial details which cannot be captured by technology. His timing and technique were immaculate.

Dravid has never been a man of numbers. His strike rate isn’t worth mentioning. The stat that perhaps best sums up Dravid is not the runs he made or the hundreds he notched up, but the number of balls he consumed over a Test career. It puts into perspective the amount of hard work and sheer effort that went into his innings. And yet he finishes his test career as the second-highest run-getter, next only to SRT. He is the only Indian to average more in away games than at home. This proves how he has mastered the craft when everyone else struggled.

Though Cricket is a game about bat & ball, for Dravid it has been all about patience & who loses it first. He is the master at staying patient for long, long periods of time. For a good bowler, all it takes for success is a good delivery which will fetch you wicket but when it comes to Dravid, you have to be incredibly disciplined. He wouldn’t give away his wicket so easily as opposed to other batsmen, who would easily get distracted after a period of time. He was never easy to lure. The 2001 match in Kolkata where India won the series against the dominant OZs, the 2003 match in Adelaide to level the series, a match where he spent almost 13 hours batting or rather defending the pace filled attack, a match where he scored 300+ runs to take India home single handedly, a match full of emotions followed by triumph and the 2004 match in Pakistan where he again spent almost 12 hours at the crease; all of which defines patience, defines the kind of person he is.

I am fortunate to have watched him play & when any one asks me to describe his batting, I will be lost; because to know his calibre, you have to watch him play. I will always remember the emotions with which he kissed the cap after the Adelaide win. It is still fresh after 8 years and will always be.

Thank You, RAHUL SHARAD DRAVID for making cricket better and most of all making us realize that even the most timid can change the world (Whacking A.Donald in South Africa for a 6 and then after more than a decade signing off your T20 career with 3 consecutive sixes is indeed breathtaking)

         

I will remember his many great knocks. But even more than them, I will remember him as a person who never shirked from moving out of his comfort zone and someone whose words were always genuine. He leaves the team with hole in the wall which will not be filled. Perhaps, never.

As Dravid completed the press conference today, he left with these words... “I leave with sadness but also with pride”

 “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” ~ Dr. Seuss