They don't make 'em like Rahul Dravid any more

Tanay Tiwari 16:02 11/01/2017
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  • Dravid is one of India's greatest batsmen.

    As a kid growing up through the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, I was privileged – like many – to watch an era of Indian cricket which laid the foundations for the current stars to blossom.

    Regardless of how many contours of change a sport travels through, the only thing that inspires, amazes, and prepares the next generation of players is heroes. Fortunately for the current Indian lot, they had many.

    Many heroes meant that Rahul Dravid wasn’t really the first name you’d pick on a list that also included Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath.

    It perfectly sums up what Dravid was to Indian cricket. Always the first second-fiddle, in an orchestra of stellar instruments. But, was he really just that?

    A second-fiddle with 13,288 Test runs, 10,889 ODI runs – all of which were achieved while never saying no to a request that furthered the team’s cause?

    India wanted to play an extra bowler, which meant the regular wicket-keeper would have to make way for a batsman who would keep. Any guesses on where everyone was looking?

    When opening woes hit the Indian batting line-up and there was no-one willing to take the thankless but instrumental job of seeing the new ball off, guess who raised his hand?

    Dravid was always about the team. Always. Something that Indian cricket doesn’t value as much as it should.

    “Like the sun sinking slowly into the horizon, Dravid’s presence at the crease was soothing, assuring.”

    In a nation which takes pride in individualistic performances, Dravid always let it be the team’s moment rather than his. But the Indore-born legend wasn’t just about selflessness and team values.

    Like the sun sinking slowly into the horizon, Dravid’s presence at the crease was soothing. It was assuring. And it must take the heart out of a sportsperson to do that to a billion people.

    Be it Eden Gardens in 2001 against Australia (which is again, a Laxman moment before it is his) or Adelaide in 2003 or Rawalpindi in 2004; there was assurance, always.

    Especially in Adelaide, where in a tricky fourth innings chase, while he kept losing partners at the other end, nothing deterred him. He knew how pivotal his presence was to the team’s cause.

    That is also why I rate his unbeaten 72 in the fourth innings higher than I rate his 233 in the same match.

    But like every sportsman’s journey, Dravid’s had its own shares of question marks. “Not a limited overs international batsmen”, they would crib. And yet, his numbers are world-class in ODIs.

    That is also a sign of Rahul Dravid, the man. Frankly, he was never a natural athlete which meant that he not only had to work on his game, he also had to be quicker to catch on with the changing times.

    Like on so many occasions in the past, this didn’t bog him down, it only motivated him to do better. So, someone who batted for 835 minutes over two innings in Adelaide to win India a game was, by the time he finished, a decent middle-order finisher.

    Of course the slogs were so unlike his game, but he pulled them out, again, for the team. I remember Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan saying in an interview that it is the things that we look down upon in acting,which are the toughest to do.

    When slogging over cow corner, Dravid was doing his own version of dancing around trees.

    In an era of razzle-dazzle cricket, sometimes when you sit back, there’s solace in remembering the music in those cover drives.

    Just the way this master of his craft would lean into that drive and pierce the gap on the off-side, was magic. Or how he would gauge the length early and shoulder the ball.

    I have my reservations with the anointment of undoubtedly India’s greatest number three batsman as ‘The Wall’. A wall just stands there, this was a craftsman who would on his day, befuddle the best in the business by piercing gaps in the field they never knew existed.

    Today, almost half-a-decade after his retirement from cricket, he is grooming the next generation. All for the love of the game and his team.

    Happy birthday, Jammy. They don’t make them like you, anymore.

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