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Akhil Govind |
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The Invincible Wall |
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Posted on 4/12/2012 |
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A few days ago, as I was going through the various stickers I have collected over the years, I came across one which has been there from 2003. The sticker of a gem of a person who had been in the news recently- The Indestructible Wall of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid! His retirement on the 9th of March this year left many lovers of test cricket emotionally shattered and the ones like us asking “Why so early?” A retirement that came out of the blue, for he was the bright spot in the disastrous tour of England, scoring three centuries and becoming the man of the series. He may have struggled in the tour of Australia, but Dravid had always been the premier test batsman for the team.
Born into a Maharashtrian family settled in Bangalore, he made his test debut with a sparkling 95 in the Lords test vs. England. However this effort was overshadowed by the debut century of Sourav Ganguly. For many a time in his career, Dravid would always have to play second fiddle to batsmen like Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman.
He won his first Man of the Match award in the second test of India’s tour of South Africa in 1996, scoring 148 and 81.
In 1999, he became the third Indian to score centuries in both innings of a test, scoring 190 and 103* in the New Years’ Eve test vs. New Zealand.
No other person may have been involved in as many century partnerships as Dravid- 80 century partnerships, 19 of them with Sachin Tendulkar.
How can one ever forget the famous 2001 Kolkata test vs. Australia? Dravid made 180 in a stand of 376 runs along with Laxman to help the team win a match after following on, only the 3rd test match victory for the team following on.
Records and accolades came in multitudes to this man- Wisden cricketer of 2000; ICC Player of the year in 2003; the only batsman to score centuries in all the test playing nations; 13,000 runs in test cricket, the second highest run getter behind Sachin; 10,000 runs scored at the same batting position; 200 catches and many more. Glenn McGrath, once remarked that if there was any Indian player who would get an automatic entry into a team filled with stars, it would be Dravid.
“The wolf who stood for the pack” as Cricinfo.com wrote about him, he kept wickets for the team in the 2003 World Cup, in order to accommodate a 7th specialized batsman, a move that helped us reach the finals of the tournament.
A calm and composed player, he was one of the greatest ambassadors of the 5 day game. His undeterred concentration at the crease would always make the opposition bowlers toil. 5 in 40 balls in the beginning would become a 100 in 200 balls, such was his class.
Outside of cricket too, Dravid was a quiet personality. The speech at the Bradman oration in December 2011 had even his critics praise him for the elements and titbits from his life and history.
An automatic choice in the test squad, the team seems to have lost its backbone without him. When India next plays a test in July, it has to be seen who will be playing in his place. As Mark Anthony remarked about Caesar, “Here goes a Dravid, when come such another”.
Disclaimer: Statements and opinions expressed in the article are those of the authors and written by them; the author is solely responsible for the content in this article. IndiansinKuwait.com does not hold any responsibility for them. |
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Report: Akhil Govind
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